Palestine Action’s co-founder has won a legal challenge over the group’s ban as a terrorist organisation on two grounds.
But the ban will remain in place, until there is a further order from the High Court.
Huda Ammori launched the legal action after then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the group, which came into force on 5 July last year.
The law change put Palestine Action on the same legal footing as the likes of ISIS and al Qaeda, making membership of, or support for, the group a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Even wearing a T-shirt, or carrying a sign, with the group’s name on it can attract a maximum six-month sentence.
At a three-day High Court hearing, Ms Ammori’s lawyers argued the ban was unprecedented and compared Palestine Action to the suffragettes.
The Home Office defended the case, saying the ban “strikes a fair balance between interference with the rights of the individuals affected and the interests of the community”.
The Defend Our Juries campaign group, which organises protests against the ban, said a total of 2,787 have been arrested across the UK since it came into force.
During the hearing, Raza Husain KC, representing Ms Ammori, said “priests, teachers, pensioners, retired British Army officers” and an “81-year-old former magistrate” were among them.
Normal People author Sally Rooney also provided written evidence supporting the challenge.
The Irish writer said she may not be able to publish any new books in the UK after she was warned she risked committing a terror offence after saying she would donate earnings to support Palestine Action.
Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Home Office, told the court the ban had not stopped people protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza or in support of Palestinians.
But he said: “While it has at all times been open to supporters of Palestine Action to protest against its proscription without breaking the law, certain individuals have instead repeatedly sought to flout Palestine Action’s proscription.”
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