Palestine Action’s co-founder can press ahead with a legal challenge to the Government’s decision to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation, after the Court of Appeal dismissed the Home Office’s appeal. Huda Ammori has begun proceedings against former home secretary Yvette Cooper’s order under anti-terror laws. The proscription, which took effect on 5 July, makes membership of or support for the group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Mr Justice Chamberlain had previously ruled that two arguments in Ammori’s case were reasonably arguable, allowing the challenge to proceed. In September the Home Office appealed to the Court of Appeal in London. The court’s summary, delivered by Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, said that applying to deproscribe with a right of appeal to the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission was not intended as a route to challenge the initial decision. The judgment also stated that judicial review would be a quicker way to determine whether the proscription was lawful and could provide an authoritative ruling for criminal courts dealing with related charges.

Campaign group Defend Our Juries says more than 2,000 people have been arrested since the proscription. After the ruling, Ammori called it a landmark victory for civil liberties and said the decision demonstrates that government ministers can be held to account when they act unlawfully. The 37-page judgment explained that deproscription and POAC appeals address a different situation and do not remove the consequences of the initial proscription. A Home Office spokesperson said the department would consider the ruling’s implications, noting ongoing campaigning by Palestine Action and detailing alleged criminal damage and intimidation; they emphasised that Palestine Action remains proscribed and that supporters face the full force of the law. They also reminded that supporting Palestine Action is not the same as supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation.