CAMPAIGNERS have launched a bid to overturn the ban on Palestine Action through the Scottish courts – a move they have said could trigger a "constitutional crisis".
The Court of Session has granted permission to former British ambassador Craig Murray to serve notice of a petition to Solicitor General Ruth Charteris to seek a judicial review of the unprecedented proscription of a direct action group.
The campaign group Defend Our Juries, which has staged mass protests defying the ban on Palestine Action, said that a challenge in the Scottish courts could see the ban overturned.
It is separate to the ongoing judicial review against the ban in England and Wales, which was brought by the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori.
Defend Our Juries claimed that if Murray’s challenge is successful, it could result in a “constitutional crisis”, where Palestine Action is a lawful organisation in Scotland but considered a terrorist group in the rest of Great Britain.
Murray (below) said: “It is a maxim in Scots law that the law cannot be absurd. To claim that Palestine Action is a terrorist organisation is plainly absurd.
“This proscription is a politically motivated action in support of a genocide and it is poisoning Scottish civil society. Entirely peaceful protestors are being arrested and charged as terrorists.”
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said that Labour’s ban on Palestine Action had “already spectacularly backfired”, pointing to the thousands of arrests that have been made of peaceful protesters for expressing support for the group.
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These have included the arrests of elderly and disabled protesters, a priest, and a man who was arrested in London earlier this week for displaying a magazine cover featuring the words: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.
Others have been arrested for wearing clothes with the words: “Genocide in Palestine. Time to take action”.
The Defend Our Juries spokesperson added: “We wholeheartedly support this legal challenge and the Scottish people’s right within their legal system to seek to overturn this absurdly authoritarian ban which has been imposed by Westminster.
“With Scotland's legal system prioritising the rights and sovereignty of the people rather than the English doctrine of the supremacy of Parliament, this legal challenge is on strong legal footing. The potential for a constitutional crisis created if Scottish and English courts reach different decisions, further demonstrates that this ban is simply not enforceable.
“Defend Our Juries will be escalating the mass defiance of the ban next month, with peaceful mass sign-holding actions taking place from November 18 to 29 across Britain. Throughout history civil disobedience has been used to overturn unjust laws.
"The movement against this draconian proscription is growing day by day - there are too many thousands of people who refuse to accept this unjust law and will not stop defying it until it is lifted.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Palestine Action has conducted an escalating campaign involving not just sustained criminal damage, including to Britain’s national security infrastructure, but also intimidation and, more recently, alleged violence and serious injuries to individuals. That kind of activity puts the safety and security of the public at risk.
“Violence and serious criminal damage has no place in lawful protests.”
Accusations of violence committed by Palestine Action members are contested and some are the subject of ongoing legal proceedings.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "It would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on live court proceedings."
