A legal bid to challenge the government's decision to list Palestine Action as a terrorist group can go ahead, the UK High Court has ruled.
The High Court has granted permission to Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, to bring a full judicial review against the order of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, banning the group as a terrorist organisation.
In June, Cooper announced a ban under the Terrorism Act 2000 after activists spray-painted planes at a Royal Air Force base, an act being investigated under counter-terrorism laws.
Later, the ban was passed in the House of Commons and the House of Lords earlier this month.
During Wednesday's hearing, the court ruled that several of the grounds that Palestine Action presented to the court as to why the government's actions were unreasonable were upheld.
Justice Martin Chamberlain said he had decided that two parts of the arguments on Ammori's behalf were "reasonably arguable."
"The proscription order is likely to give rise to interference with rights guaranteed by common law and Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights," he added.
Lawyers for Ammori previously told the High Court the decision was "so extreme as to render the UK an international outlier."
British lawmakers voted to list Palestine Action as a terrorist group, making it a criminal offence to be a member of the group or to invite or recklessly express support for it. One can be punished for up to 14 years in prison if they belong to or support the group.
In early July, a group of more than 400 cultural figures had urged the government to step back from its intention to ban Palestine Action and to "stop arming Israel."
Recently, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, raised serious concerns over the ban, warning it is a "disturbing misuse" of counter-terrorism laws and risks undermining fundamental freedoms.
