The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 19th June 2026
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 19th June 2026
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
On Monday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Government’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was lawful. In February, the High Court ruled that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful but the Starmer government decided to appeal. Now, the Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of the Government. This means that the banning order remains in place, making it a criminal offence to belong to or express support for the group.
Liberty, the human rights campaign, intervened in the case because the UK’s definition of terrorism is so wide-ranging that it captures behaviours most people would never consider terrorism. This case has already had, and will continue to have, a chilling effect on protest and free speech – leaving many people too afraid to protest or say the wrong thing.
Monday’s judgment risks paving the way for current and future governments to use counter-terror powers against groups no one would consider to be terrorists, as we have seen in other countries to silence activists, minorities and opponents.
Last week four Palestine Action activists were jailed after causing £1.2m of damage at a UK site of an Israel-based defence firm. Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were convicted of criminal damage in a retrial after they broke into the Elbit Systems factory near Bristol in August 2024. Corner got seven years and eight months, Charlotte Head and Kamio got five and Rajwani was jailed for four years and eight months.
Left social-democratic Labour MP John McDonnell said the scale of the sentences was “truly shocking” and Green Party leader Zack Polanski said it was “gut-wrenching to see four young people jailed for direct action against an arms supplier to Israel”. He added that the sentence was a “truly dangerous attack on the right to protest”.
Angry scenes at the Palestine Action trial led to the arrest of 72 protesters outside Woolwich Crown Court. Some 500 demonstrators had gathered outside the south London court for the trial that ended in the conviction and stiff sentencing of the four activists accused of criminal damage and violence against the security guards at the Elbit plant.
The demonstrators chanted “Free Palestine” and waved Palestinian flags and banners bearing messages such as “Saving lives is not terrorism. Support Palestine Action”. One of them was carried by a middle-aged man who was among the first people to be arrested.