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Protesters celebrate outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action's co-founder Huda Ammori's challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror group
PALESTINE ACTION cases will be adjourned until the conclusion of a government appeal to last week’s High Court ruling overturning the ban on the activist group, the chief magistrate has ruled.
Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring decided to suspend a hearing today after the legal challenge against the proscription was successful, finding the ban to be “disproportionate.”
A number of people were due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on charges of backing the action group during protests held after it was branded a terrorist organisation in July last year, but they were told not to attend.
Judge Goldspring added that the 31 cases involving defendants charged under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which were due to be heard on Monday, would be adjourned until April 27.
He said: “In light of Friday’s ruling we decided that there is no merit in hearing the cases until we know what is going on with the appeal.”
Retirees, who made up a significant number of the 2,787 people arrested on Palestine Action-related charges, said they felt “vindicated” by the decision to overturn the ban.
But many expressed fear over the uncertainty surrounding their cases and whether their trials would go ahead after the government announced it would fight the High Court decision in the Court of Appeal.
Former army colonel and ex-military attache Chris Romberg has not yet entered a plea after his Palestine Action arrest last August.
He said he was “pleased and satisfied that this proscription, which we knew was illegitimate, has now been shown to be unlawful as well.”
Richard Whitmore-Jones was arrested on August 9 last year at a silent vigil on charges of supporting the group.
He said initial celebrations quickly gave way to caution: “We were all ecstatic that the prescription ban was overturned.
“But I think today I’m feeling a little bit more circumspect about what might happen in future with the appeal.”
Arrested at the same protest was Catholic priest Father John McGowan, who said he “would have been really upset had the judgement gone against us.”
He added that he was “angry at the government, and even angrier now that they should want to appeal.”
The Met Police has said it would stop arresting people for supporting the group after the decision was announced.
