A LEGAL challenge seeking to quash the ban on Palestine Action looks likely to go ahead in the Scottish courts, a leading campaigner said following a Court of Session hearing today.

Former diplomat Craig Murray defended his application for a judicial review into the proscription of the direct action group as a terror organisation at the court.

His barrister, former SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC, presented affidavits, including from Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, saying that he was actively involved with the direct action group in response to an objection by government lawyers.

Before a packed public gallery, Ms Cherry added that there is a unique “Scottish dimension” to the case, citing those who have been arrested in Scotland as a result of the ban.

She told Lord Young that the implications of the case has constitutional importance and “impact on human rights of people in Scotland.

“There is some suggestion the way in which the proscription is being enforced in Scotland differs slightly and that counter-terrorism policing advice which has been followed from CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] — that no action should be taken in terms of certain slogans or T-shirts.

“People branding the same slogan are being proceeded against in Scotland.”

Lord Young is expected to make a decision later this week.

Speaking to a crowd of campaigners outside the court in Edinburgh, Mr Murray said that he felt the judge was more convinced by his barrister than the government lawyers.

“Of course we can’t tell what the judge is going to do, but I felt the whole atmosphere in the court, the way the arguments went, the way the judge responded, gave me every reason to believe we are going to get a judicial review.”

On Sunday, it emerged that Scottish prosecutors are giving Palestine Action protesters the chance to avoid criminal records by accepting £100 fines for breaking terror laws.

Defend Our Juries, which has organised protests against the ban, noted the Scottish government has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, and the Scottish counter-terrorism board Contest found Palestine Action “has not been close to meeting the statutory definition of terrorism.”

A High Court decision on a judicial review against the ban brought by Ms Ammori is due to be published later.