All eyes on the Court of Appeal

Posted: 30th April 2026

The government’s appeal against the High Court ruling on the Palestine Action ban is before the courts  and the stakes could not be higher.

Among those watching the appeal closely will be over 3,300 people who have been arrested for defying the ban, including 523 in Trafalgar Square just this month.

But the case is also important for all who wish to demonstrate: the outcome will have acute ramifications for the right to protest,already diminished by several new laws in recent years.

Heard over two days in London this week, an unusually large panel of five judges rather than the standard three presided over the case, signalling its importance.

Last June, then home secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to ban Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act. The ban came into effect in July.

Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, brought an immediate legal challenge, seeking a judicial review of the group’s proscription.

In February, three senior judges found that the ban was unlawful on two grounds.

First, the proscription was a “very significant interference” with the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Second, it breached the home secretary’s own policy on proscription.

However, after allowing the home secretary permission to appeal, the judges said that the ban should remain in place pending the appeal.

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Now Ammori’s lawyers are urging the Court of Appeal to uphold the High Court’s ruling.

They’re also seeking a cross-appeal, arguing the ban was discriminatory on grounds of political opinion and ethnicity, and that Ammori should have been consulted before the proscription decision was made.

In an unprecedented move, Professor Peter Hallward hand-delivered a letter to the Court of Appeal signed by over 1,700 legal scholars and public figures  including Sally Rooney, Greta Thunberg, Brian Eno and Judith Butler – reading “We oppose genocide. We support Palestine Action.”

Defend Our Juries has described it as the largest single act of defiance against the ban, as the signatories risk arrest.

Police have spent well over £10 million enforcing the ban. Meanwhile, the Home Office has spent £700,000 on the legal battle.

Commenting on the case, Amnesty International said the Palestine Action ban was a grave misuse by the government of sweeping counter terror powers.

Human Rights Watch called the government’s direction “deeply alarming” and also warned that the UK is “adopting protest-control tactics” seen in countries where democracy is eroding.

Ms Ammori noted: “The ban on Palestine Action has created a profound chilling effect, fostering a climate of fear at precisely the moment when speaking out against Israel’s unrelenting crimes against humanity has been most urgent.”

Hamza Yusuf

Regular Contributor
Declassified UK