THE Home Secretary has made “false allegations” against Palestine Action, the co-founder of the group has claimed.
Huda Ammori accused Yvette Cooper of making “categorically untrue” statements about the group, which she proscribed under terror laws earlier this year.
The co-founder of the group, who is currently pursuing a legal challenge against the ban on Palestine Action, cast doubt on Cooper’s claim to have seen “disturbing” evidence about the group’s future plans.
Cooper previously said her decision to ban the group under the Terrorism Act – an unprecedented step against a direct action group – was based on “detailed security assessments”, adding: “It’s based on violent action and injuries that this group has taken, including on national security targets, but also injuries to people, and also some disturbing information referring to future planning as well.”
Details of alleged violence have remained vague, with cases against activists affiliated to the group going through the courts.
Speaking at an online press conference on Wednesday, Ammori said: “It’s very hard to rebut evidence which nobody has seen apart from allegedly the Home Secretary. I think what’s important to note here is that she’s referring to secret evidence publicly on TV channels, which hasn’t been disclosed in the legal case.”
She added: “I’d also say that the Home Secretary has made many false allegations publicly, including the Iranian funding et cetera and these are things that I would dispute completely as false statements.”
Cooper herself has not said that Palestine Action was funded by Iran however, Home Office officials briefed The Times in June that they were investigating this as a possibility.
Ammori said that Cooper was “on the back foot” as she pointed out that there were “hundreds of people willing to put their liberty on the line” with more than 500 people signed up to hold up placards supporting the group in London on Saturday.
It is expected the protest will lead to a slew of arrests. Similar demonstrations have resulted in arrests, including an 83-year-old retired priest, Sue Parfitt in July.
Veteran activist Sean Clerkin previously told the Glasgow Times how he had been banned from Glasgow city centre after he was charged under the Terrorism Act for displaying a sign which read: "Genocide in Palestine, Time to Take Action."
And a man was charged for allegedly displaying a sign supportive of the organisation from the window of his flat in Shawlands, Glasgow.
Expressing support for Palestine Action – as with other officially-designated terrorist groups such as Isis and Al-Qaeda – can result in a prison sentence of up to 14 years while wearing clothes with their branding can land an offender in jail for six months.
Ammori said that the proscription of Palestine Action was “solely based on property damage”, arguing that the details of alleged violent offences was “categorically untrue or unavailable to the rest of us to actually be able to properly rebut and come back on”.
She added: “I think this part of the abuse of power that she is enacting by doing these interviews where she is able to refer to this supposed secret evidence that nobody else is able to see.
“It’s an abuse of the legal process and the current judicial review and it further adds to the inability of people to express their freedom of expression and to have the right to reply to these quite serious allegations that she is making.”
The Home Office was approached for comment.
