Novara Media: We Oppose the Proscription of Palestine Action
by Novara Media
1 July 2025
Filippo Marra/Novara Media
The government’s planned proscription of Palestine Action is appalling state overreach. As journalists and media workers, Novara Media unequivocally opposes this historic infringement on freedom of expression in the UK. We believe it is a gross abuse of legislation to equate a non-violent, direct action protest group with the likes of Isis, Al-Qaida, and National Action. Never before in Britain has it been illegal to support a protest group.
We report day after day on Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. We have watched countless hours of footage, heard testimony, and combed through data. It has been evident for many months that Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian population, from opening fire on unarmed crowds at aid distribution points to the bombardment of refugees at so-called safe-zones, amount to the crime of genocide.
Meanwhile, the establishment media remains biased in favour of Israel. Even the BBC, a public service broadcaster, grants 33 times more coverage per fatality to Israeli deaths than those of Palestinians. If there were ever a time when non-violent direct action was justified in the prevention of greater harm, it is now.
Furthermore, we are disgusted by the arrest and investigation of pro-Palestine journalists such as Asa Winstanley, the imposition of excessive restrictions on pro-Palestine rallies, and attacks on the artistic expression of Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh. Novara Media views the proscription of Palestine Action as part of this wider effort to silence opposition to Israel’s campaign of genocide against the people of Gaza.
Everyone should be alarmed by Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper’s decision to designate Palestine Action a proscribed terrorist organisation. The use of terror legislation will dramatically limit what anyone in the UK can say about the group. Section 12 of the Terrorism Act gives the state sweeping power to restrict speech that it deems supportive of proscribed organisations. Wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt, praising the group in public, or expressing a positive opinion about it online could all be grounds for arrest and prosecution.
There is no journalistic exemption to the Terrorism Act. Reporting freely carries the risk of large fines and up to 14 years imprisonment. Journalists arrested under terrorism legislation may have their homes and offices raided, or work devices seized and searched, putting them and their sources at risk.
Novara Media strongly upholds the right to report events and produce fact-based analysis without the interference of the government. We oppose all state attempts to crush legitimate expressions of political opinion. We abhor Keir Starmer’s willingness to clamp down on free speech, dissent, and longstanding traditions of civil disobedience that are vital to democracy and liberty.
Without equivocation or caveat, we stand opposed to the government’s proscription of Palestine Action.
dizzy: Me too.
Judge rules October raid on my home was unlawful
https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/judge-rules-october-raid-on-my-home
I have won back my computers and phones.
A court has ruled that the raid and resulting seizure of my devices that British “counter-terror” police carried out on my home in October were unlawful.
The most senior judge at London’s Central Criminal Court ruled on 13 May that the search warrants used in the raid were unlawfully issued and said the police must hand back all the computers, phones and other devices that they took that day.
The police have today handed back all seven seized items.
The dawn raid happened in the early hours of 17 October 2024.
As my colleague at The Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah reported at the time: “Approximately 10 officers arrived at [Asa] Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorising them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents.”
Police have now admitted these warrants were improperly obtained and therefore illegal.
In his ruling the Recorder of London, Mark Lucraft KC (the Old Bailey’s highest circuit judge) wrote that he was “very troubled by the way in which the search warrant was drafted, approved and granted where items were to be seized from a journalist”.
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Article continues at https://asawinstanley.substack.com/p/judge-rules-october-raid-on-my-home
United Nations Censures UK Over Abuse of Terrorism Act Against Journalists and Activists
Four UN Special Rapporteurs have written jointly to the UK government demanding explanation of its inappropriate persecution of journalists and political activists under the Terrorism Act. They state that those persecuted:
appear to have no credible connection to “terrorist” or “hostile” activity
The cases taken up by the United Nations are those of Johanna Ross (Ganyukova), John Laughland, Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray (yes, me), Richard Barnard and Richard Medhurst. The UN letter is signed by:
Ben Saul
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorismIrene Khan
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expressionGina Romero
Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of associationAna Brian Nougrères
Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy
Under this UN special procedure, the letter is sent to the government in question which has sixty days to respond. This letter was sent by the UN to Starmer’s government on 4 December. No reply having been received, it has now been published.
It is worth noting that even with the UN letter on its desk and ignored, Starmer’s government in fact stepped up the use of the Terrorism Act against pro-Palestinian journalists and activists in this period. The cases of Asa Winstanley, Sarah Wilkinson and Tony Greenstein, among others, happened after the letter was drafted.
I should be clear that I was, working with Justice for All International (for which we had a crowdfunder last year in relation to the Assange case at the UN), heavily involved in assisting with preparation of this initiative, and made three visits to the UN in Geneva on the subject together with Sharof Azizov, and on one occasion Richard Medhurst. Your subscriptions and donations to this blog are the only funding I have to make such activity possible, so thank you.
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There is no sign the UN has given the Starmer government pause; human rights are extremely low on their agenda. Support for Israel and the crushing of pro-Palestinian sentiment, or of any criticism of western foreign policy, is extremely high on their agenda.
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Craig Murray’s article at https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/02/united-nations-censures-uk-over-abuse-of-terrorism-act-against-journalists-and-activists/
Wave of arrests for Palestine solidarity actions sparks ‘state repression’ fears
COUNTER-TERRORISM police have arrested 10 more Palestine Action activists in connection to a protest at a “research hub” belonging to Israel’s largest weapons firm Elbit Systems.
Another 10 had already been detained when the action took place on August 6.
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Despite being arrested under the Terrorism Act, which allows police to detain suspects up to 14 days without charge, the activists were all charged with non-terror offences, such as criminal damage and aggravated burglary.
Police confirmed that 10 more were arrested under the Terrorism Act on Tuesday in connection with the incident.
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A spokesperson for the group accused the British state of “acting to protect the interests of a foreign genocidal regime, over the rights and freedoms of its own citizens.”
They added that the real terrorists were “those assisting and arming Israel’s genocide.”
It comes a month after counterterrorism police raided the home of Asa Winstanley, a journalist covering the occupation of Palestine.
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Cage International head of campaigns Naila Ahmed said: “The British government continues to build an infrastructure of authoritarian laws.
“This is beyond a question of complicity; the UK police are now acting as an extension of a genocidal entity, abusing and exploiting any and every power at their disposal to intimidate and crush resistance to the mass killing of humans in Gaza.”
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