UK top court hears the Palestine Action ban. A ruling may wait past Christmas.
Britain's top court hears a challenge to the ban on the protest group Palestine Action on 4 and 5 November. It has set no date for its ruling.
What happened
Asked in Parliament whether he would review the ban on Palestine Action, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would not comment further before the Supreme Court hearing on 4 and .
The UK Supreme Court hears a challenge to the ban on Palestine Action on 4 and . The government banned the protest group under the Terrorism Act 2000 in , after both Houses of Parliament approved the order. Five justices, among them Lord Reed, will hear the appeal, and the afternoon of will be closed to the public.
The High Court first ruled the ban unlawful. In June five Court of Appeal judges overturned that and found the ban lawful, saying ministers must have a wide margin to act on national security. Huda Ammori, a co-founder of the group, brought the appeal, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would “robustly defend this appeal“.
More than 3,700 people have been arrested over support for the group, and about 2,500 have been charged. None has gone to trial while the challenge goes on. On the Irish novelist Sally Rooney said her publisher Faber would stop supplying her books to UK shops, because Faber cannot pass her UK earnings to her.
On the children’s laureates of Ireland and Wales, Chris Haughton and Nicola Davies, said they would give their royalties to Rooney. In Parliament, Prime Minister Andy Burnham refused to review the ban, saying it “followed a rigorous and evidence-based process“. The court’s autumn term ends on , and it has set no date for its ruling.
Was the decision of the Secretary of State for the Home Department to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 lawful?
UK Supreme Court, issue in the appeal R (Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Sources: theguardian.com
The Pattern
We looked for cases where the UK’s top court reviewed a security decision by a minister against a named group or person, after a first court found it unlawful and the Court of Appeal disagreed. We found seven such appeals since 1984. None was about banning a group.
Show the other 5 cases
The Read
The court gives its rulings on Wednesdays and usually names them on the Thursday before. The last Wednesday of the autumn term is , 42 days after the hearing starts. Only one of the six earlier appeals with exact dates was decided that fast (42 days), and one more took 45. About 2,500 people charged over the group are waiting for the answer.
There are reasons for doubt. All seven appeals went to the same top court, and none was about banning a whole group. The most recent came in 2015. The fastest ruling, after 42 days, went against the government, and the slowest, after 127 days, went for it.
The second market asks whether the court keeps the ban. The government won four of the seven earlier appeals. All five Court of Appeal judges, led by the most senior judge in England and Wales, found the ban lawful. This market counts only if the court rules by , and with no ruling by then it is cancelled.
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