UK Appeal Court to Rule on Proscription of Palestine Action as Terrorist Group

The UK Court of Appeal is expected to deliver a ruling on Monday on whether the government was correct to list the activist group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

Palestine Action was officially proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK last July. Earlier this month, a London court ruled that four activists convicted of criminal damage at a UK facility owned by an Israeli arms company would be sentenced on the basis that their actions were 'terrorism-related'.

The ban on Palestine Action was challenged at the High Court, which in February ruled that the proscription was unlawful. The government subsequently appealed that decision.

What is Palestine Action and why was it banned?

Palestine Action is a UK protest group founded six years ago, describing itself as a movement 'committed to ending global complicity in Israel's genocide and apartheid'.

The group says it uses 'disruption tactics' targeting 'complicit businesses' and companies involved in manufacturing weapons for Israel, such as Israeli firm Elbit Systems, Italy's Leonardo aerospace company, France's multinational Thales, and US-based Teledyne. It has targeted UK facilities linked to these companies.

British police say the group's actions have caused millions of pounds in property damage.

Palestine Action protests have included:

• In 2021, members staged a six-day rooftop protest at an Elbit Systems subsidiary in Leicester until arrested by police.
• In 2022, the group broke into a Thales equipment factory in Glasgow, causing damage to weapons worth over £1 million.
• In 2024, ten months into Israel's war on Gaza, Palestine Action activists broke into an Elbit Systems UK facility near Bristol, causing a further £1 million in damage.
• On 20 June 2025, activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint on two military aircraft.

Days after the Brize Norton incident, MPs voted to proscribe the group. That put Palestine Action in the same category as armed groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL.

Critics opposed the vote, arguing that while group members have caused property damage, they have not carried out violent acts that could be considered terrorism. More than 130 public figures have spoken out against the ban. At least 1,600 arrests related to support for Palestine Action were made in the three months following the ban.

What is the Court of Appeal ruling on Monday about?

Last August, Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, challenged the government's ban at the High Court. In November, the High Court held a three-day judicial review hearing. In February, the High Court ruled that the government's 'terrorist group' proscription was unlawful and disproportionate.

The government immediately said it would appeal. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: 'I am disappointed by the court's decision and disagree with the view that banning this terrorist organisation is disproportionate. I intend to appeal this ruling to the Court of Appeal.'

Although the High Court found the ban unlawful, the proscription remains in force pending the outcome of the government's appeal at the Court of Appeal on Monday.

What is the wider context?

Four Palestine Action activists were convicted as 'terrorists' on Friday, although a jury had found them guilty only of criminal damage in May. Dozens of protesters were arrested outside Woolwich Crown Court in London before the sentencing of four members – Charlotte Head, 30; Samuel Corner, 23; Leona Kamio, 30; and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21 – for causing damage at an Elbit Systems facility in Filton, near Bristol.

Corner was also convicted of attacking a police officer with a sledgehammer and found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm. Despite being convicted of criminal damage, the court had the power to determine whether their actions were 'terrorism-related', which leads to heavier sentences.

Judge Jeremy Johnson sentenced the four defendants to around five to eight years in prison after describing their August 2024 raid on the Elbit Systems facility in Bristol as a 'terrorist act'. Being convicted as 'terrorism-related' means the activists will serve their full sentences in prison, unless they have served at least two-thirds of their sentences and a parole board decides they can be released.

Samuel was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months; Charlotte to 5 years, along with Leona; while Fatema received 4 years and 8 months. They will be recorded as 'terrorists' for life and must register new mobile devices, email addresses, and bank accounts with the police for life, and could be returned to prison if they breach parole conditions or reoffend.

Amnesty International called the sentences 'wholly disproportionate'. The organisation's UK director, Kerry Moscogiuri, said: 'Today's ruling risks marking a new low in the ongoing crackdown on protest across the UK. Criminal damage has never before been considered terrorism in the UK justice system, and treating it as terrorism is wholly disproportionate simply because the offence occurred at a protest.'

Earlier, a group of more than 50 lawyers and law professors published an open letter denouncing potential plans to convict the four Palestine Action members as terrorists. The letter stressed that criminal damage is a recurring feature of protest campaigns, from women's suffrage activists a century ago to the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion.

'No one has ever before suggested that those who carry out such actions should be considered terrorists. Blurring the lines between principled direct action and terrorism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes,' the letter said.