News - Middle East: The UN human rights chief has sharply criticized Britain’s ban on the activist group Palestine Action, calling it a “disturbing” misuse of the UK’s counterterrorism laws and urging the government to reverse the decision. 

“The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Friday.

The statement further stated the ban raised “serious concerns that counter-terrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature, and risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK”.

“It limits the rights of many people involved with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”

The statement underscored that terrorist acts should be confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages, for the purpose of intimidating a population or to compel a government to take a certain action or not.”

But the ban, among other things, makes it a criminal offence to be a member of Palestine Action, to express support for the group or wear items of clothing that would arouse “reasonable suspicion” that the person is a member or supporter of the group, Turk pointed out.

The group, which takes direct action against Israeli weapons factories in the UK and their supply chain, was officially designated a “terrorist organization” earlier this month.

Under the new legislation, membership of or public support for the group is now a criminal offense in the UK, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.  

Protesters in recent days have gathered at Parliament Square, defying a warning from the Metropolitan Police, who said expressing support for the group “is a criminal offence.”

The UN rights office said the UK police have arrested at least 200 people during protests, many of them peaceful, over the ban since it took effect.

The rights chief warned that the British government’s decision “also conflates protected expression and other conduct with acts of terrorism and so could readily lead to further chilling effect on the lawful exercise of these rights by many people”.

“I urge the UK government to rescind its decision to proscribe Palestine Action and to halt investigations and further proceedings against protesters who have been arrested on the basis of this proscription,” Turk said.

The UN rights chief also called on the UK government to revise its counter-terrorism legislation to bring it fully in line with "international human rights norms and standards.”

Palestine Action has focused much of its campaign on Elbit Systems UK, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, which it accuses of manufacturing and supplying weapons to the Israeli military amid the regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Reacting to the ban on the group, a spokesperson for Palestine Action said, “While the government is rushing through parliament absurd legislation to proscribe Palestine Action, the real terrorism is being committed in Gaza."

Source: Press TV