A legal application to remove Palestine armed group Hamas from the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations has been submitted to the Home Secretary over concerns the listing hampers free speech on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The 106-page application, submitted by the London-based law firm Riverway Law, has been informed by the expertise of 20 scholars hailing from a range of academic, journalistic, political and cultural backgrounds.
Among the experts is former ad hoc judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Professor John Dugard.
The launch of the legal application was announced at a London conference were the solicitors detailed the legal basis for the de-proscription request and outline the key arguments supporting it.
The speakers included director of Riverway Law, Fahad Ansari, Barristers Franck Magennis and Daniel Grütters, and Dr Azzam Tamimi a prominent British-Palestinian author who has published works on Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
Franck Magennis, Barrister at Garden Court Chambers, who has been instructed as counsel on the case said: “It is well established” that dignity is the foundation of all systems of human rights law. Arguments about Palestinian dignity are central to this application and I look forward to seeing how the Home Secretary engages with them.”
Daniel Grütters, Barrister at One Pump Court Chambers, also told 5Pillars that there is an “urgent need” for “honest and nuanced conversations” about the situation in Gaza.
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“There is an urgent need for honest, intelligent, and nuanced conversations about the situation in Palestine. Regardless of your opinion on Hamas, a policy which has the effect of stifling discussion is unhelpful and acts as a substantial hurdle to reaching a long-term political settlement.”
Fahad Ansari, Director of Riverway Law, said the legal move offered an opportunity for the UK to change its course on the states historic complicity in settler colonialism.
“The application invites the Secretary of State to change course from Britain’s longstanding complicity in settler colonialism and apartheid dating back to the Balfour Declaration until the present day genocide.”
Hamas and the terror listing
Hamas was added to the UK’s list of proscribed organisations in its entirety in
November 2021 by then-Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Prior to 2021, only Hamas’s military wing – the al-Qassam Brigades – had been proscribed since 2001.
At the tine of the blacklisting, Home Secretary Patel argued that it was not possible to distinguish between Hamas’s political and military wings, calling Hamas “fundamentally and rabidly anti-Semitic”, adding the proscription was required to protect the Jewish community.
A statement from the Home Office in 2021 added further context behind the UK decision to totally outlaw all of Hamas.
“This action will support efforts to protect the British public and the international community in the global fight against terrorism. Hamas is already listed in its entirety by the United States and European Union.
it was the government’s assessment that there was a distinction between the political and military wings of the group. This distinction is now assessed to be artificial, with Hamas as an organisation involved in committing, participating, preparing for, and encouraging acts of terrorism.”
Proscription makes it a criminal offence to belong to Hamas, express support for it,
or display any of its symbols.
The Home Secretary has the discretion to add or remove any group from the list of proscribed organisations.
According to a press release by Riverway Law, the legal application has been made on behalf of Dr Mousa Abu Marzouk, the Head of International Relations and Legal Office of the Political Bureau of Hamas.
As Hamas is a sanctioned organisation it is currently prohibited to receive any sum of money from the group, even in exchange for goods or services, without a license from the UK Treasury.
As such, all lawyers and expert witnesses involved in this application have not received any payment for their services or expenses from Hamas or any third party.
The application is being made under Section 4 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows banned groups or affected individuals to request that an organisation be removed from the proscribed list.
The application attempts to argue that proscription of Hamas “unlawfully infringes fundamental rights, such as a disproportionate impact on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, as protected by Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights” including open debate and political expression.
The application also seeks to assert that proscription undermines the possibility of a peaceful settlement and draws historical analogies in that regard with South Africa and Ireland.
Arrests of pro-Palestine activists has become more common in the UK following the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Leaving some activists complaining about alleged state oppression or the politicisation of anti-terror laws to gag Palestine solidarity.
Gaza war rages on
At least 36 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll from Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023 to 50,846, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
A ministry statement said that 41 more injured people were also transferred to hospitals, taking the number of injuries to 115,729 in the Israeli onslaught.
The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has since killed 1,482 people and injured nearly 3,700 others despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
The genocidal war on Gaza began shortly after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and other local armed Palestinian groups.
However, last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
