UK: Banning Palestine Action ‘a disturbing legal overreach’ by UK Government, Amnesty International UK Chief Executive warns
The House of Commons has voted to proscribe direct action group Palestine Action.
‘Instead of taking draconian measures to [proscribe Palestine Action], the Government should be taking immediate and unequivocal action to put a stop to Israel’s genocide and end any risk of UK complicity in it’ – Sacha Deshmukh
Responding to news that the House of Commons has voted in support of the Government’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:
“Amnesty International condemns the Government’s decision to ban Palestine Action under anti-terror laws, as an unprecedented legal overreach.
“The UK has a deeply flawed and overly broad definition of terrorism which human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, have been warning about for years. This latest disturbing move only serves to highlight that those warnings were justified.
“Terrorism legislation hands the authorities massive powers to arrest and detain people, suppress speech and reporting, conduct surveillance and take other measures that would never be permitted in other circumstances. Using them against a direct-action protest group is an egregious abuse of what they were created for.”