Palestine Action will be banned as a proscribed terrorist group this weekend after a High Court judge refused to issue an interim order blocking the move.
Mr Justice Chamberlain refused an application for “interim relief” to temporarily stop the legislation banning the group coming into force at midnight on Saturday.
It comes as the group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, seeks to bring a legal challenge against the Home Office over home secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The motion will make membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
In writing, Mr Justice Chamberlain said that the order, which the home secretary considered to be “required in the public interest”, was affirmed by both Houses of parliament.
While the proscription would “undoubtedly have severe effects on the claimant and many others”, it was not “the court’s function to comment on the wisdom of the use of the power in the case”.
Mr Justice Chamberlain continued in his judgment that it was “ambitious” for Palestine Action to claim it was not “concerned in terrorism”, as the “action which immediately preceded the announcement of the decision to lay a proscription order was against an RAF base”.
It was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June, which police said caused around £7m worth of damage. Backers of the group contest this figure and say one of the aircraft is already back in the air.
Hundreds of protesters gathered waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs saying “Free Palestine” and “We are all Palestine Action” outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the hearing on Friday.
In a statement issued after the judgment, Ms Ammori said the public are being left “in the dark about their rights to free speech”.
Lawyers for Ms Ammori took her case to the Court of Appeal immediately on Friday evening, and in a decision given at around 10.30pm, judges refused to grant the temporary block.
The Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: “The judge was entitled to take the view that the harm identified… would be the product of an individual’s decision not to comply with the order.” She added that there was “no real prospect of a successful appeal”.
Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori, made a bid to have the case certified as a “point of general public importance” to allow a Supreme Court bid.
Baroness Carr, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Lord Justice Edis, added: “You are not going to get to the Supreme Court before midnight.”
The judge said that any application should be made before 4pm on Monday and refused a bid to pause the ban coming into effect pending any Supreme Court bid.
As part of initial arguments in the High Court, Mr Husain, representing Ms Ammori, said: “This is the first time in our history that a direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists.”
Mr Husain said Ms Ammori “was inspired by the long tradition of direct action in this country” and wished to take action “to prevent harm before it happens”.
Quoting Ms Ammori, the barrister continued that the group had “never encouraged harm to any person at all” and that its goal “is to put ourselves in the way of the military machine”.
She called for the judge to suspend the “ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian” decision to proscribe the group until 21 July, when a wider challenge is due to be heard.
“The secretary of state has still not sufficiently articulated or evidenced a national security reason that proscription should be brought into effect now,” she added.
Ben Watson KC, for the Home Office, countered this by saying there was an “insuperable hurdle” in the bid to temporarily block the ban.
The barrister also said that if a temporary block was granted, it would be a “serious disfigurement of the statutory regime”.
A further hearing to decide whether Ms Ammori will be given the green light to challenge the government's decision is expected to be held later in July.
Ms Cooper said the vandalism of two planes was "disgraceful" and that the group had a "long history of unacceptable criminal damage" as she announced plans to ban them last month.
MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday.
Four people – Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22 – have all been charged in connection with the incident.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday after being charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
They were remanded into custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 18 July.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East said on Wednesday that a 41-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender had been released on bail until 19 September, and a 23-year-old man who was arrested has been released without charge.
The decision to proscribe Palestine Action a terrorist group has faced controversy. Independent MP for Coventry South, Zarah Sultana, said the move “lumps a non-violent network of students, nurses, teachers, firefighters and peace campaigners – ordinary people, my constituents and yours – with neo-Nazi militias and mass-casualty cults”. Amnesty International called it “a disturbing legal overreach”.
Northern Irish group Kneecap, whose band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh appeared in court in June charged with a terror offence, criticised the High Court’s decision as they have campaigned against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
They said on social media: “Outside the Palestine Action appeal in London just now. The Brits have labelled those anti-war and anti-genocide as the terrorists.... Starmer is the same as Badenoch, fervent champions of crimes against humanity.
"The revolution will be no re-run, brothers”, the statement continued. “The revolution will be live.”
