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If this interview had taken place in a week’s time, Huda Ammori might have been arrested. If this interview had been published in a week’s time, the Guardian might also have been breaking the law.
Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, said she was finding it “very hard to absorb the reality of what’s happening here”. She said: “I don’t have a single conviction but if this goes through I would have co-founded what will be a terrorist organisation.”
By “this” she means the UK government’s hugely controversial proposal to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic State and National Action – the first time a direct action group would be classified in this way.
If the group is proscribed next week, as is expected, being a member of or inviting support for Palestine Action will carry a maximum penalty of 14 years. Wearing clothing or publishing a logo that arouses reasonable suspicion that someone supports Palestine Action will carry a sentence of up to six months.
Palestine Action protest in London after the hugely controversial UK government proposal to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws. Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock
As far as the government is concerned – and campaign groups that have been lobbying ministers – Palestine Action deserves it. This week Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, decried its “long history of unacceptable criminal damage” and claimed: “Its methods have become more aggressive, with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence.”
Beyond the claim and counter-claim, the debate over the decision to ban Palestine Action is as much about free speech and the use of counter-terrorism laws to stop protests.
If Ammori is concerned for herself, she does not show it. In an exclusive interview, she said: “Obviously people in Palestine Action understand the severity of what’s happening and there’s a sense of frustration, but there’s also a lot of unity in terms of wanting to fight this and not crumble to pressure.
“I think they’re completely shooting themselves in the foot if they do this – they are completely delegitimising their own laws, which I think are already quite illegitimate, but in the sense that there have been thousands of people who’ve come out on the streets, so many people on social media, people in the media etc who’ve come out in support. I can’t think of any precedent for that, where a group is facing proscription and there’s an outpouring of support from the general public. I think that says enough about whether or not we should be labelled terrorists.”
Cooper announced the proscription plan on Monday, three days after Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed paint into the jet engines of two military aircraft that it claimed were helping to refuel US and Israeli fighter jets. It was a deeply embarrassing security breach at a time when the government is trying to bolster its defence credentials.
