LONDON, Oct 17 : The British government on Friday lost its bid to block the co-founder of pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action bringing a legal challenge over the banning of the group under anti-terrorism laws.
Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, was given permission to challenge the group’s proscription, with her case due to be heard next month.
Britain’s Home Office (interior ministry) asked the Court of Appeal to overturn that decision and rule that any challenge to proscription should be heard by a specialist tribunal.
Judge Sue Carr rejected the Home Office’s appeal, saying Ammori’s case could proceed in the High Court.
Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the government in July, making it a crime to be a member, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
More than 1,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of the group, with over 100 charged.
Before it was banned, Palestine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment. It accused Britain’s government of complicity in what it said were Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The group had particularly focused on Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems and Britain’s government cited a raid at an Elbit site last year when it decided to proscribe the group.
Palestine Action was banned a month after some of its members broke into the RAF Brize Norton air base and damaged two planes, for which four members have been charged. (Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by William James)
UK loses bid to block challenge to Palestine Action ban under anti-terrorism laws
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UK loses bid to block challenge to Palestine Action ban under anti-terrorism laws
- Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, was given permission to challenge the group’s proscription, with her case due to be heard next month
Man tackled to ground after spraying unknown substance on Rep. Ilhan Omar at Minneapolis town hall
- The audience cheered as he was pinned down and his arms were tied behind his back
MINNEAPOLIS: A man wearing a black jacket was tackled to the ground after spraying an unknown substance on US Rep. Ilhan Omar at a town hall she was hosting in Minneapolis on Tuesday.
The audience cheered as he was pinned down and his arms were tied behind his back. In video of the incident, someone in the crowd can be heard saying, “Oh my god, he sprayed something on her.” Omar continued the town hall after the man was ushered out of the room.
Just before that Omar called for the abolishment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign. “ICE cannot be reformed,” she said.
Minneapolis police did not immediately respond to a phone call and email message seeking information on the incident and whether anyone was arrested.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday night.
President Donald Trump has frequently criticized the congresswoman and has stepped up verbal attacks on her in recent months as he turned his focus on Minneapolis.
During a Cabinet meeting in December, he called her “garbage” and added that “her friends are garbage.”
Hours earlier on Tuesday, the president criticized Omar as he spoke to a crowd in Iowa, saying his administration would only let in immigrants who “can show that they love our country.”
“They have to be proud, not like Ilhan Omar,” he said, drawing loud boos at the mention of her name.
He added: “She comes from a country that’s a disaster. So probably, it’s considered, I think — it’s not even a country.”
Fellow US Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, R-S.C., denounced the assault on Omar.
“I am deeply disturbed to learn that Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked at a town hall today” Mace said via the social platform X. “Regardless of how vehemently I disagree with her rhetoric — and I do — no elected official should face physical attacks. This is not who we are.”
The attack came days after a man was arrested in Utah for allegedly punching US Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida, in the face during the Sundance Film Festival and saying Trump was going to deport him.
