Police officers block a street as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather in protest against Britain’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plans to proscribe the “Palestine Action” group in the coming weeks, in London, Britain, June 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

The British government on Friday lost its bid to block the co-founder of the anti-Israel group Palestine Action bringing a legal challenge over the banning of the group under anti-terrorism laws.

Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, was given permission to challenge the group‘s proscription on the grounds that the ban is a disproportionate interference with free speech rights, with her case due to be heard next month.

Britain’s Home Office (interior ministry) then asked the Court of Appeal to overturn that decision and rule that any challenge to the ban should be heard by a specialist tribunal.

Judge Sue Carr rejected the Home Office’s appeal, saying challenging the proscription in the High Court was quicker, particularly where people have been charged and are facing trial for expressing support for Palestine Action.

The court also ruled that Ammori could challenge the ban in the High Court on additional grounds, which Ammori said was a significant victory.

“It’s time for the government to listen to the overwhelming and mounting backlash … and lift this widely condemned, utterly Orwellian ban,” she said in a statement.

The Home Office did not immediately comment.

DIRECT ACTION GROUP BANNED IN JULY

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the government in July, making it a crime to be a member, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

More than 2,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of the group, with over 100 charged.

Before the ban, Palestine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances, or damaging equipment.

It accused Britain’s government of complicity in what it said were Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied committing war crimes in its two-year military campaign, which began after Palestinian Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel and Hamas agreed a ceasefire last week.

Palestine Action particularly focused on Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems, and Britain’s government cited a raid by activists at an Elbit site last year when it decided to outlaw the group.

The group was banned a month after some of its members broke into the RAF Brize Norton air base and damaged two planes, for which four members have been charged.

Critics of the ban – including United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and civil liberties groups – argue that damaging property does not amount to terrorism.

However, Britain’s former interior minister Yvette Cooper, who is now foreign minister, previously said violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest.

Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Britain’s media regulator Ofcom said a BBC documentary about children’s lives in Gaza narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas-run government broke broadcasting rules.

It said the failure to disclose the position of the boy’s father was “materially misleading.” The UK and several other countries have formally designated Hamas, which took control of Gaza nearly two decades ago, as a terrorist organization

The BBC removed “Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone” from its online platform in February, five days after it was broadcast.

Its own investigation found in July that the program had breached its editorial guidelines on accuracy.

However, it said there was no evidence that outside interests had “inappropriately impacted on the program.”

Ofcom, which received 20 complaints about the documentary, said it had directed the BBC to broadcast a statement on its findings on a date to be confirmed.

Smoke rises, in this still image from handout video, said to show Pakistani forces conducting a drone strike on an Afghan Taliban border post, in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, Oct. 15, 2025. Photo: ISPR/Handout via REUTERS

Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed on Friday to extend their 48-hour ceasefire until the conclusion of talks in Doha, according to three Pakistani security officials and one Afghan Taliban source.

A Pakistani delegation had already arrived in Doha while an Afghan delegation was expected to reach the Qatari capital on Saturday, said the sources, who did not want to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Kabul has instructed its forces to maintain a ceasefire as long as Pakistan refrained from any attack, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told Ariana News, a Pashto language local television news channel.

DOZENS KILLED IN DAYS OF FIERCE FIGHTING

A temporary truce between the South Asian neighbors on Wednesday paused days of fierce fighting that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

Pakistan‘s military and foreign ministry and the Afghan defense ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the ceasefire and the talks in Doha.

Once allies, Islamabad and Kabul engaged in fierce ground fighting, and Pakistan also launched airstrikes across their contested frontier before they reached a 48-hour ceasefire that ended at 1300 GMT on Friday.

Militant violence in Pakistan has been a major irritant in its relationship with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul after the departure of US-led forces in 2021.

The latest conflict between the two countries was triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in militants who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.

SEVEN PAKISTANI SOLDIERS KILLED IN SUICIDE ATTACK

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghanistan border on Friday, Pakistani security officials said.

The soldiers came under attack in a Pakistani military camp in North Waziristan district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and 13 were also wounded, five security officials said.

While one militant rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the boundary wall of a fort that served as a military camp, two others tried to get into the facility and were shot dead, they said.

Six militants were killed in the suicide attack, the office of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement, without providing details on the number of soldiers killed.

Pakistan‘s army did not respond to a request for comment.

The identity of the attackers was not known and no group has claimed responsibility.

PAKISTAN ACTED AFTER LOSING PATIENCE WITH KABUL, SHARIF SAYS

Sharif said on Thursday that Pakistan “retaliated” after losing patience with Afghanistan following a series of militant attacks, but was ready to hold talks to resolve the conflict.

The Taliban denies giving haven to militants to attack Pakistan and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan, provoking border tensions and sheltering ISIS-linked militants to undermine its stability and sovereignty.

Islamabad denies the accusations.

On Friday, the Pakistan Red Crescent said Afghanistan had handed over to it the bodies of seven Pakistanis – two security personnel and five civilians – who were killed during clashes earlier in the week.

Although the Islamic nations have clashed in the past, the fighting this month is their worst in decades. It has drawn the attention of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who have mediated and sought to stop the fighting.

US President Donald Trump has said he can help resolve the conflict.