Palestine Action ban challenged at UK Supreme Court as protesters arrested outside
The co-founder of Palestine Action has asked the UK Supreme Court to overturn the group’s proscription as a terrorist organisation, arguing the ban is disproportionate, as police arrested more than two dozen demonstrators outside the court.
The co-founder of Palestine Action has challenged Britain’s decision to ban the campaign group as a terrorist organisation at the UK Supreme Court, arguing that the move was disproportionate and undermined counter-terrorism law.
Huda Ammori, who co-founded the group in 2020, is seeking to quash the proscription imposed by the government in July 2025. The two-day hearing before five justices began in London on Wednesday, with a decision expected at a later date.
Her barrister, Raza Husain KC, told the court that the group’s objectives were aligned with, rather than abhorrent to, liberal democratic values. In written submissions, he argued that only three of 385 actions carried out by Palestine Action over five years had been assessed as meeting the definition of terrorism under part of the Terrorism Act.
Husain also drew comparisons with historical protest movements, telling the court that the suffragettes and other groups had used tactics similar to, or more extreme than, those of Palestine Action, including an early 20th-century bombing campaign in the fight for women’s right to vote.
The Home Office, which is opposing the appeal, says the Court of Appeal made no legal error when it upheld the ban earlier this year. Sir James Eadie KC, for the Home Office, said in written submissions that the lower court had rejected Ammori’s attempt to portray Palestine Action as a non-violent direct action protest group.
The government proscribed the group last year after a series of high-profile incidents mostly targeting defence firms, culminating in a break-in at RAF Brize Norton in which two planes were damaged. Ministers argued that the group’s escalating actions, causing serious property damage — including a 2024 raid targeting Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems — amounted to terrorism and justified the ban.
The case has already travelled through the courts. Three High Court judges found the ban unlawful in February, but five Court of Appeal judges overturned that decision in June, finding the proscription lawful and a justified and proportionate interference with freedom of expression rights.
Outside the court on Wednesday, more than 20 demonstrators gathered in support of the group before the hearing began, and police were seen carrying several people away into nearby vans. The Metropolitan Police later said 25 people were arrested.
The scale of enforcement since the ban has become a central part of the debate. Home Office statistics show more than 3,600 arrests linked to support for Palestine Action between proscription in July 2025 and this June — more than one-third of all terrorism arrests in Britain since 9/11. With more than 300 people arrested outside the US embassy in London last weekend and around two dozen more outside the Supreme Court, the total has now passed 4,000, although any resulting charges could be dropped if the ban is overturned.
Under the Terrorism Act, membership of or support for a proscribed organisation is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, which is why the outcome of the appeal carries consequences far beyond the group itself.
Ammori has said she will argue that the ban is having a disproportionate effect on freedom of speech and the right to protest. If the Supreme Court rules against her, she has indicated she will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Whatever the justices decide, the hearing marks the final stage of a domestic legal battle over where the line falls between direct action protest and terrorism — and over whether a ban imposed on a protest movement can survive scrutiny at Britain’s highest court.
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