Palestine Action will be officially banned as a proscribed terrorist group this weekend after a High Court judge refused to issue an interim order blocking the move.
Mr Justice Chamberlain refused an application for âinterim reliefâ to temporarily stop the legislation banning the group coming into force at midnight on Saturday.
It comes as the groupâs co-founder, Huda Ammori, seeks to bring a legal challenge against the Home Office over home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The motion will make membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
It was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June, which police said caused around ÂŁ7 million worth of damage.
Hundreds of protesters gathered waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs saying âFree Palestineâ and âWe are all Palestine Actionâ outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the hearing on Friday.
Raza Husain KC, representing Ms Ammori, said: âThis is the first time in our history that a direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists.â
Mr Husain said Ms Ammori âwas inspired by the long tradition of direct action in this countryâ and wished to take action âto prevent harm before it happensâ.
Quoting Ms Ammori, the barrister continued that the group had ânever encouraged harm to any person at allâ and that its goal âis to put ourselves in the way of the military machineâ.
She called for the judge to suspend the âill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarianâ decision to proscribe the group until 21 July, when a wider challenge is due to be heard.
âThe Secretary of State has still not sufficiently articulated or evidenced a national security reason that proscription should be brought into effect now,â she added.
However Ben Watson KC, for the Home Office, told the High Court there was an âinsuperable hurdleâ in the bid to temporarily block the ban.
The barrister also said that if a temporary block was granted, it would be a âserious disfigurement of the statutory regimeâ.
A further hearing to decide whether Ms Ammori will be given the green light to challenge the government’s decision expected to be held later in July.
Ms Cooper said the vandalism of two planes was “disgraceful” and that the group had a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage” as she announced plans to ban them last month.
MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday.
Four people – Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22 – have all been charged in connection with the incident.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after being charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
They were remanded into custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on 18 July.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East said on Wednesday that a 41-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender had been released on bail until September 19, and a 23-year-old man who was arrested has been released without charge.
More follows on this breaking news story…
