Campaigners challenging Palestine Action ban face 42 terrorism charges

Six campaigners seeking to lift the UK government's ban on direct action group Palestine Action have been charged with terrorism offences for allegedly expressing support for the now-proscribed organisation.

Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said on Tuesday that six of their key spokespeople had been rounded up in dawn raids, hours before a scheduled news conference announcing that a mass action to challenge the ban would be going ahead this Saturday.

The police said the six people were charged as part of an investigation led by the Counter Terrorism Command, in relation to their allegedly coordinating protests and 13 Zoom calls in support of Palestine Action.

The spokespeople, including former government lawyer Tim Crosland, were held over the custody time limit of 24 hours and had their homes raided, according to DOJ.

DOJ said that during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday, the judge granted the defendants bail, rejecting a request by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to hold them on remand.

The group said the activists could have faced 18 months' imprisonment due to court backlogs if they had been refused bail.

The defendants face a mixture of charges under section 12 (2) and 12 (3) under the Terrorism Act.

Section 12 (2) makes it an offence to arrange a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation, and 12 (3) criminalises addressing a meeting with the intention of encouraging support for a proscribed organisation.

The group faces a total of 42 charges between them.

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According to DOJ, their bail conditions stipulate that they will observe a tagged curfew between 7am and 9pm. They are also barred from contacting their co-defendants and from participating "directly or indirectly" in support for Palestine Action.

“We welcome the release of our key spokespeople and the judge’s decision to reject the CPS’ absurd attempt to remand them in prison for what could have been many months," a DOJ spokesperson said.

"However, the fact that they are now facing 42 charges between six of them and extraordinarily draconian bail conditions for hosting public Zoom calls is nothing short of a scandal."

The arrests come after DOJ announced its biggest ever "day of defiance" against the Palestine Action ban on 6 September, in which an estimated 1,500 participants have pledged to risk arrest under the Terrorism Act for holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action".

The UK government proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terror laws on 4 July, following an incident in which members broke into RAF Brize Norton and attacked with paint and crowbars two planes they said were “used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East". 

The designation puts Palestine Action on a par with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State under British law, making it a criminal offence to show support for or invite support for the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the Terrorism Act 2000.