A UK judge on Tuesday put on hold all trials of people charged with supporting Palestine Action, scheduling a blanket review of cases for July 30.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring’s decision, made at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, comes after the High Court last month ruled the government’s ban on the group unlawful — though the government has been granted leave to appeal.
Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation last July, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Since then there have been nearly 3,000 arrests, mainly for carrying placards defending it, according to the activist group Defend Our Juries. Hundreds of people are facing charges.
Tuesday’s ruling came as the first defendants charged under the Terrorism Act for supporting the group — Jeremy Shippam, 72, Judit Murray, 71, and Fiona Maclean, 54 — were days away from a three-day trial for allegedly holding placards reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
All three were arrested at a London protest on July 5 and have now been released on unconditional bail.
Goldspring said a single review of all cases would avoid proceedings becoming “unwieldy,” describing the preparation of cases that “may or may not” be necessary as “a huge undertaking for everybody, including the courts.”
After the hearing Raj Chada of Hodge Jones & Allen, represuenting hundreds of protesters charged with supporting the group, called on prosecutors to “see sense” and drop the cases.
He said resources should be used “to catch and convict real criminals rather than those holding placards exercising their democratic right to peaceful protest.”
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