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Terrorism Act

The Palestine Action Ban Has Had A Chilling Effect On The Press

On Saturday 5 July, the day Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation, 29 people were arrested for sitting in Parliament Square with handwritten signs that read “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Among them was an 83-year-old priest, Sue Parfitt, who described the significance of the action – it was “testing out the law”, she told our reporter. It was always clear to us at Novara Media that the protest would be newsworthy, whether arrests were made or not. We agreed with Parfitt: how the state responded would be telling.

Public Applauds ‘Terror’ Suspects; Major Escalation Of Palestine Action Protests

On Saturday 19 July, police arrested nearly 100 more people under the Terrorism Act 2000 for holding signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”, bringing the number to around 200 since Palestine Action became a proscribed organisation on 5 July. Again the police were divided in their response, with common sense prevailing in Edinburgh, Derry, and outside the British Embassy in The Hague, where peaceful protestors were left undisturbed. By contrast, the Met Police arrested 55 in Parliament Square. 17 were arrested in Bristol, 16 in Manchester and 8 in Truro.

A ‘Draconian’ United Kingdom Government

When we restarted at 2 p.m., Raza Husain noted that the secretary of state had submitted no argument as to why the proscription had to enter into force immediately. He continued that the statutory instrument proscribing Palestine Action was not to be viewed as having the same authority as primary legislation, and had undergone a very truncated parliamentary procedure. Amendment had not been possible. It was more properly characterised as an executive instrument subject to parliamentary veto. Judge Chamberlain agreed, and noted it had also included the Maniac Murder Cult and it had not been possible for Parliament to separate the groups.

Cops In Chaos Over How To Respond To Palestine Action Protests

The UK-wide protests on Saturday 12 July against the proscription of Palestine Action have exposed a stark divide in the policing response across different forces. Raids and repression to different degrees across the country are indicative of the chaos the government has unleashed with its order that permits police to treat protestors holding cardboard signs as if they were terrorists. The spectrum of responses on Saturday ranged from a hands-off approach in Kendal and Derry, to surreal repression in Cardiff, where cops locked protestors up, raided their homes, and tested their food cupboards with something appearing to be a Geiger counter.

UK Attempt To Name Non-Violent Group As ‘Terrorist’ Is Challenged In Court

I headed to the Royal Courts of Justice in London on July 4 for the hearing brought by Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, on an application for relief from the government’s proscription order against the group as a terrorist organisation. Huda had applied for judicial review of the legality of this order. There is to be a hearing on whether a judicial review will be granted in the week beginning July 21. What the July 4 hearing was about, was whether the proscription should be suspended until that hearing on whether permission will be given for judicial review. This is called interim relief.

Dozens Arrested In London Protests Against Ban On Palestine Action

British police have arrested 46 pro-Palestine demonstrators during a protest in Parliament Square, marking the second consecutive weekend of unrest over the government’s decision to outlaw the activist group Palestine Action. According to IRNA, the Metropolitan Police confirmed the arrests on Saturday, citing prior warnings that publicly supporting the banned group could be deemed a criminal offense under UK law. Last weekend’s demonstration led to 29 arrests, and authorities said they had cautioned participants about the legal implications. The banned organization, Palestine Action, has gained prominence for its direct actions targeting arms companies linked to “Israel”—especially those involved in the ongoing war in Gaza, which rights advocates have described as genocidal.

UK Blacklists Palestine Action In ‘Grotesque, Chilling’ Move

The British parliament passed a vote on 2 July proscribing the Palestine Action activist group as a terrorist organization, a move strongly condemned by various groups and individuals as “grotesque,” “chilling,” and an “unprecedented legal overreach.” In parliament, 385 voted in favor of the proscription, while 26 voted against it. UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis said in parliament that Palestine Action is not “a legitimate protest group.” “People engaged in lawful protest do not need weapons. People engaged in lawful protest do not throw smoke bombs and fire pyrotechnics around innocent members of the public.

UN Experts Urge United Kingdom Not To Misuse Terrorism Laws

UN experts* today urged the United Kingdom not to ban the “direct action” group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. “We are concerned at the unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as ‘terrorist’,” the experts said. “According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism.” The Government asserts that the group is “terrorist” because some members have allegedly caused criminal damage to property, including at military bases and arms companies, with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the Government. Proscription would trigger a range of criminal offences relating to support for the group.

Palestine Action To Take Labour To Court Over Planned Terrorist Ban

The High Court has granted an urgent hearing for Palestine Action’s legal challenge to threatened proscription. In a hearing which concluded on the morning of Monday 30 June at the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Chamberlain granted the application for an urgent hearing and set the date for Friday 4 July at 10:30am to consider permission for a judicial review of the Home Secretary’s decision to make an order to add direct action group Palestine Action to the list of proscribed organisations under Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000, alongside ISIS and Al Qaeda.

Counter-Terrorism Police Arrest Four People After Paint Sprayed On Planes

Counter-terrorism police have arrested four people in connection to the protest by Palestine Action at RAF Brize Norton, in which two activists on scooters spray painted two British military planes with red paint and evaded security and police. Three have been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Another was arrested of assisting an offender. The embarrassment caused to the government by the recent Palestine Action incursion at Brize Norton, has led rapidly to the announced proscription of Palestine Action. Keir Starmer explicitly referred to the spray-painting of the planes as “vandalism”, not ‘terrorism’ and many Parliamentarians including former Justice Secretary Lord Falconer, have stated that the protest may be criminal damage, but not terrorism.

UK Prosecutors Collaborate With Israel To Persecute Activists

UK prosecutors are colluding with Israeli embassy officials to classify protesters resisting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza as terrorists and to imprison them on heavily politicized grounds, an investigation by The Grayzone journalist Kit Klarenberg showed. “Documents released by the British government reveal that London has been coordinating with Israeli officials to prosecute protestors associated with activist group Palestine Action for disrupting the operations of Elbit Systems, which manufactures deadly weapons being used in the genocide in Gaza,” Klarenberg wrote. The documents suggest that Israel has successfully lobbied the UK to abandon well-established legal standards in order to charge activists resisting Israel’s genocide under harsh counter-terror laws.

United Nations Censures United Kingdom’s Abuse Of Terrorism Act

Four U.N. special rapporteurs have written jointly to the U.K. government demanding explanation of its inappropriate persecution of journalists and political activists under the Terrorism Act. They state that those persecuted: appear to have no credible connection to ‘terrorist’ or ‘hostile’ activity. The cases taken up by the United Nations are those of Johanna Ross (Ganyukova), John Laughland, Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray (yes, me), Richard Barnard and Richard Medhurst. Under this U.N. special procedure, the letter is sent to the government in question which has 60 days to respond. This letter was sent by the U.N. to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government on Dec. 4. No reply having been received, it has now been published.

UK Police Raid Home, Seize Devices Of Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley

British counterterrorism police on Thursday raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley. Approximately 10 officers arrived at Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorizing them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents. A letter addressed to Winstanley from the “Counter Terrorism Command” of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are “aware of your profession” as a journalist but that “notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses” under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006). These provisions set out the purported offense of “encouragement of terrorism.”

Human Rights Activist Sarah Wilkinson Arrested By UK Police

British human rights activist and social media influencer Sarah Wilkinson was arrested by UK police on 29 August, reportedly over “content she posted online.” “The police came to her house just before 7.30am. [Twelve] of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counter-terrorism police. They said she was under arrest for ‘content that she has posted online.’ Her house is being raided, and they have seized all her electronic devices," Jack Wilkinson is quoted as saying by the social media account Suppressed News. “The pro-genocide UK regime has arrested [MENAUncensored's] roving reporter and Human Rights Activist Sarah Wilkinson for supporting the Palestinian resistance and relaying what is really happening in Gaza and the West Bank to the world,” MENA Uncensored announced.

Palestine Action Co-Founder Faces Charges Under Terrorism Act

Labour home secretary Yvette Cooper is going to court to force through Tory anti-protest laws. And the government is presiding over a blizzard of repressive arrests, jailings and charges. On Thursday Palestine Action announced that its co-founder Richard Barnard is facing three charges for two speeches. He is accused of supporting a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act and encouraging “criminal activity”. On the same day counter-terrorism police re-raided one of the “Filton 10” Palestine activists’ addresses, over three weeks after they were first arrested. Cops arrested six of the Filton 10 on 6 August after they broke into the Israeli-owned arms research, development and manufacturing hub in Filton, Bristol.
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