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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Jess Glass

Palestine Action to make Court of Appeal bid at evening hearing over terror ban

Palestine Action will head to the Court of Appeal hours before a ban against it is due to come into force, to challenge a High Court judge’s refusal to temporarily block it from being designated as a terror group.

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, asked the High Court to temporarily block the Government from banning the group as a terrorist organisation before a potential legal challenge against the decision to proscribe it under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The move was to come into force at midnight after High Court judge Mr Justice Chamberlain refused Ms Ammori’s bid for a temporary block.

But lawyers on behalf of the group will now bring their case to the Court of Appeal in a bid to challenge the decision at a hearing due to begin at 8pm on Friday.

At a short, urgent preliminary appeal hearing, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr asked Raza Husain KC, representing Ms Ammori: “If this matter is going ahead, you need a decision from us by then, do you?”

Mr Husain replied: “Indeed.”

Baroness Carr, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Lord Justice Edis, said the hearing would last an hour, refusing a bid to extend it to 90 minutes.

She said: “We’re less than five hours away, we’ve got to make our minds up on what we’ve got.”

The head of the judiciary in England and Wales added: “Both sides, if there was any prospect of an appeal, ought to have had all of these matters well in hand, if you were going to come to the Court of Appeal and ask for a decision by midnight.

“We are here now. We will do our best.”

In his decision refusing the temporary block, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: “I have concluded that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is refused but the claim later succeeds is insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in maintaining the order in force.”

Shortly after the decision was handed down, Ms Ammori said that she would be “seeking an urgent appeal to try to prevent a dystopian nightmare of the Government’s making”.

She added: “The Home Secretary is rushing through the implementation of the proscription at midnight tonight despite the fact that our legal challenge is ongoing and that she has been completely unclear about how it will be enforced, leaving the public in the dark about their rights to free speech and expression after midnight tonight when this proscription comes into effect.

“Hundreds of thousands of people across the country have expressed support for Palestine Action by joining our mailing list, following and sharing our social media content and signing petitions, and many, including iconic figures like Sally Rooney, say they will continue to declare ‘we are all Palestine Action’ and speak out against this preposterous proscription, demonstrating how utterly unworkable it will be.”

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