UK watchdog warns against overreach in targeting activist groups under \u2018counterterrorism\u2019 laws.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 29 Apr 2026<\/span>29 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The British government risks stretching \u201ccounterterrorism\u201d laws beyond their original \u2060purpose by using such powers against activist groups, a United Kingdom \u201cterrorism\u201d watchdog has said.<\/p>\n In his annual report examining the use of Britain\u2019s \u201cterrorism\u201d legislation during 2024, independent \u2060reviewer Jonathan Hall said the subsequent banning of pro-Palestine group Palestine Action had exposed \u201creal uncertainty\u201d over whether serious damage to property alone should qualify as \u201cterrorism\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The law\u2019s broad wording could without clearer limits risk pulling protest activity into \u201cterrorism\u201d policing, even where there is no intent to harm people, \u200cHall said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no legal authority on what \u2018serious damage to property\u2019 means,\u201d Hall wrote, saying the definition could extend beyond violent attacks to acts such as criminal damage, depending on how courts interpret the threshold.<\/p>\n While he said it was unthinkable to remove property damage entirely from the legal definition of \u201cterrorism\u201d, he suggested lawmakers could narrow the test, for example, by requiring a risk to life, a national security dimension or exclusion \u2060for non-violent protest.<\/p>\n His report comes as the government appeals a \u2060High Court ruling that found the banning of Palestine Action unlawful on the grounds of free speech.<\/p>\n The ban, imposed in July 2025, remains in force pending the outcome of the appeal. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned \u2060at the time that using \u201dcounterterrorism\u201d legislation to implement the ban on Palestine Action risked \u201chindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across \u2060the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n Palestine Action, founded in 2020, says its goal is to end \u201cglobal participation in Israel\u2019s genocidal and apartheid regime\u201d, focusing mainly on weapons factories, particularly those owned by Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems.<\/p>\n Since the ban on the group was introduced, there have been about 3,000 arrests, mostly for displaying placards in support of the group, and hundreds of people now face charges.<\/p>\n Hall\u2019s report also highlighted growing reliance on \u201ccounterterrorism\u201d laws \u2060to police online propaganda and political expression.<\/p>\n The independent reviewer also looked at the 2024 banning of group Hizb ut-Tahrir and the far-right online Terrorgram network, describing both as cases where organisations were banned primarily for online \u200crhetoric rather than operational violence.<\/p>\n Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said in a statement that she would review Hall\u2019s recommendations before responding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n UK watchdog warns against overreach in targeting activist groups under \u2018counterterrorism\u2019 laws. Published On 29 Apr 202629 Apr 2026 The British government risks stretching \u201ccounterterrorism\u201d laws beyond their original \u2060purpose by using such powers against activist groups, a United Kingdom \u201cterrorism\u201d watchdog has said. In his annual report examining the use of Britain\u2019s \u201cterrorism\u201d legislation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg?resize=96%2C96&quality=80)
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