A JUDGE has agreed to put a Scottish legal challenge to the UK Government’s ban on Palestine Action on hold.
This morning at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Lord Young granted a motion from the UK Government to “sist” (pause) the Scottish judicial review of the proscription, meaning the case will not proceed until proceedings in England, potentially up to the Supreme Court, have run their course.
The ruling is a blow to former diplomat Craig Murray and his supporters, who had asked the court to suspend the ban in Scotland in the interim on the basis that it was unlawfully crushing free speech and protest rights.
It also follows a legal win earlier this year for Palestine Action and co-founder Huda Ammori at the High Court in London, where a judge found the proscription “disproportionate” but left it in place pending appeal.
In the hearing on Wednesday, Advocate General Catherine Smith KC had argued that it would be “constitutionally undesirable” for Scottish courts to reach a different view from their counterparts in England on what they framed as a matter of national security.
Joanna Cherry KC, representing Murray, warned that shelving the Scottish case in deference to London undermines the distinct role of Scotland’s legal system and leaves activists here exposed to anxiety and potential criminalisation in the meantime.
Reacting after the decision, Murray told The National that it is "very worrying".
"It is the abandonment of the rights of Scotland's separate legal system," he said.
"In January Lord Young ruled that a resident of Scotland is entitled to the decision of a Scottish court. He has gone back on that completely and specifically ruled that our rights can be decided by the Court of Appeal of England."
A spokesperson for the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, meanwhile, added: “The suspension of the ban would have finally released the strangling grip that baseless terrorist charges have had on the lives of many. The courts however disagreed pointing at the appeal verdict coming down in a few weeks.
"The UK government had the audacity to rehash the same, baseless argument built on nothing but procedural issues which had already been rejected by Lord Young. Except this time they made sure to announce the verdict from the appeal will be soon, changing the circumstances."
They added: "They dismissed the experiences of Scots arrested as irrelevant to the public interest and that the court should defer it's jurisdiction to its English equivalent. Telling every Scot to just sit and wait for England to decide for us.
"But this case was ultimately won with delays and underhanded tactics leaving just a few weeks until the appeal decision. That much is evidenced by Craig Murray being made to pay only 50% of costs for these proceedings, punishing the state for repeatedly trying to delay this case. A small victory in this battle.
"We now turn and await for the verdict of the appeal coming down on June 15th. We oppose genocide and will never stop fighting for its end.”
