A British rights group has filed a second legal application calling on the UK government to remove the Palestinian resistance group Hamas from a list of proscribed terrorist organisations, reports the Middle East Eye.
Cage International on June 10said it had instructed lawyers to appeal the decision in 2021 by former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to proscribe Hamas in its entirety. The proscription of Hamas predates its current war with Israel in Gaza, where the group has been the de facto authority since winning Palestinian elections in 2006.
Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, was proscribed by the UK more than two decades ago. But Patel decided to extend the ban to the whole organisation, arguing there was no longer a distinction between the political and military wings of the group.
Proscribing a group as a terrorist organisation automatically creates several criminal offences for anyone who is a group member, who wears or publishes the group’s symbols, expresses or invites support for the group, or organises a meeting to support it.
Section 4 of the UK Terrorism Act allows any person affected by an organisation’s proscription to apply to the home secretary for its de-proscription. Cage is using this clause to lodge its application over concerns its clientshave been disproportionately targeted in an “unjust, politically charged manner” as a consequence of Hamas being added to the list of banned organisations.