Craig Murray challenges UK Palestine Action ban in Scotland
A Scottish challenge to the UK’s proscription of Palestine Action has become a test of how far counter-terrorism law can reach into protest politics. The petition, brought by former diplomat Craig Murray and represented by Joanna Cherry KC, sits alongside arrests of Scottish supporters who displayed signs or clothing backing the banned direct-action group. Police Scotland said it would continue enforcing the law while the order remains in force. The UK Home Office’s public guidance says Palestine Action was proscribed in July 2025 because the government assesses that it committed, prepared, promoted and encouraged terrorism through serious property damage. The High Court in London later ruled the proscription unlawful, but the ban remains operative pending appeal. For Belgium Pulse readers, the case matters less as UK courtroom drama than as a European civil-liberties warning: Gaza-linked protest, arms-industry activism and counter-terrorism labels are colliding across democratic states.
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About this story
Palestine Action (UK direct-action network founded in 2020) targets companies it links to Israeli military supply chains. Craig Murray (former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and Scottish political activist) brought the Scottish judicial-review petition against the ban. Joanna Cherry KC (Scottish barrister and former SNP MP) represents Murray in the case. Huda Ammori (Palestine Action co-founder) leads the parallel challenge in London. Police Scotland (Scotland’s national police force, created in 2013) is enforcing the UK-wide proscription in Scotland. Catherine Smith KC (Advocate General for Scotland, the UK government’s senior Scottish law officer) has described live prosecutions linked to the ban. Defend Our Juries (UK civil-disobedience campaign) organises sign-holding protests against the proscription. Elbit Systems UK (British subsidiary of Israeli defence company Elbit Systems) has been a repeated Palestine Action target. The Home Office (UK interior ministry) administers proscription policy under the Terrorism Act 2000.
How to read this story
The history
The Home Office guidance says the Terrorism Act 2000 allows proscription where an organisation is believed to be concerned in terrorism and where using the power is proportionate. The same guidance says Palestine Action was added to the list in July 2025. The High Court in London ruled on 13 February 2026 that the proscription was unlawful, while press reports of the judgment say the court treated ordinary criminal law as a less restrictive route for much of the conduct alleged. Earlier UK controversies over counter-terrorism powers include the post-2001 expansion of detention, proscription and speech offences, repeatedly tested against European human-rights standards.
The geopolitics
The dispute sits inside the wider Gaza war and Western arguments over arms exports to Israel. Palestine Action targets companies it links to Israel’s military supply chain, while the UK government frames the group through national-security and counter-terrorism law. That collision turns a domestic protest case into a proxy fight over how allied states manage Gaza-related dissent, defence industry protection and political violence labels.
Why now
The issue is timely because Scottish proceedings are tied to the UK-wide appeal over the Palestine Action ban, and because new sentencing in England has intensified the debate over terrorism findings in cases originally charged as ordinary criminal offences.
What to watch
Watch the Court of Appeal outcome on the Home Office’s challenge, any resumed Scottish hearings, and prosecutorial decisions on pending sign-holding or clothing cases. A confirmed quashing would shift attention to whether ministers attempt a narrower replacement measure.
International angle
The case is British, but its rights framework is European. Arguments over expression, assembly and association draw on the European Convention on Human Rights, which also shapes Belgian legal debate through the Council of Europe system. The Gaza context adds cross-border pressure because protest movements, arms-trade campaigns and counter-terrorism policy are being watched across European capitals.
What this means for you
For Belgian readers, nothing changes directly in Belgian law. The practical takeaway is comparative: organisations planning Gaza-related demonstrations, university events or arms-trade actions should distinguish lawful political expression from support for a banned organisation when travelling to or working in the UK, where the consequences can include terrorism-linked investigation or prosecution.
What happens next
The Court of Appeal process in London is expected to determine whether the High Court’s ruling against the proscription survives. Scotland’s paused or live proceedings could then move depending on whether the UK-wide ban is upheld, quashed or returned to ministers. Prosecutors may also have to decide how to handle sign-holding and clothing cases if the legal foundation changes.
Potential consequences
If the ban is upheld, UK police may continue treating visible support for Palestine Action as a terrorism matter, and other governments may cite the case when facing disruptive protest around foreign conflicts or arms companies. If it falls, ministers could still prosecute damage, trespass or assault through ordinary criminal law, but the ruling would strengthen proportionality arguments against broad protest-related terrorism designations. Belgian policymakers may read the outcome as a caution before expanding speech-adjacent security powers.
Opposing perspectives
- UK Home Office
The Home Office guidance frames the ban as a counter-terrorism measure, not a protest-policing shortcut. It says Palestine Action crossed from criminal direct action into terrorism through serious property damage intended to advance a political cause and influence government, including attacks linked to defence and national-security targets.
- Civil-liberties lawyers and Bingham Centre commission
The Bingham Centre commission argues that the UK terrorism definition gives ministers too much discretion and can pull disruptive but non-lethal protest into a terrorism frame. Its strongest point is proportionality: ordinary criminal law can punish damage without attaching the exceptional stigma and speech restrictions of proscription.
- Police Scotland
Police Scotland’s position is institutional rather than ideological: while the order remains in force, officers say they must enforce it proportionately. That view treats the live legal challenge as a matter for courts and ministers, not for police discretion at individual demonstrations.
- Palestine solidarity campaigners in Scotland
Scottish campaigners argue that the ban chills lawful Gaza protest by making slogans, placards or clothing legally risky. Their strongest case is that people who oppose UK or Israeli policy may face terrorism-linked consequences without being accused of violence or membership of an armed group.
Timeline
- 2020-07-30·Palestine Action was founded as a UK direct-action network focused on companies linked to Israeli military supply chains.
- 2025-07-05·The Home Office guidance lists Palestine Action as proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 from July 2025.
- 2026-02-13·The High Court in London ruled the proscription unlawful, while the ban remained in force pending appeal.
- 2026-06-12·Four Palestine Action activists were sentenced after a judge found a terrorist connection to offences at an Elbit Systems UK site.
- 2026-06-13·The Scottish challenge and related arrests returned to attention ahead of the expected appeal outcome.
Glossary
- Proscription
- A legal designation that bans an organisation and makes membership, support or public display linked to it a criminal offence under terrorism law.
- European Convention on Human Rights
- A Council of Europe human-rights treaty, separate from the EU, protecting rights including expression, assembly and association.
- Judicial review
- A court procedure testing whether a public authority acted lawfully, fairly and within its powers.
- KC
- King’s Counsel, a senior barrister rank in the UK legal profession.
How this story developed
2 reports on this subject — earliest first. You are reading the highlighted entry.
- London court sentences Palestine Action activists as terror-linked offenders
- Craig Murray challenges UK Palestine Action ban in Scotland· You are here
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This briefing was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by a Belgium Impulse editor before publication. methodology.