Pro-Palestine activist group to be banned after breaking into major RAF base
Pro-Palestine group Palestine Action will be proscribed in the coming weeks after activists broke into a major RAF base, the Home Secretary has said.
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Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
Two Middle East-related protests to be held in central London on Saturday
Protesters are set to rally at two high-profile demonstrations in central London on Saturday over flaring conflicts in the Middle East, the Metropolitan Police said. A protest organised by groups under the Palestine Coalition banner will gather in Russell Square from 12pm, before marching to Whitehall via Aldwych and the Strand for an assembly outside Downing Street. Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and musician Paloma Faith are among those set to give speeches at the assembly. Meanwhile, a static counter-protest organised by pro-Israeli group Stop The Hate will be held at the same time just north of Waterloo Bridge at the junction with the Strand. The group said it would meet at the location from 12.30pm onwards. Police have set out conditions for the first protest under the Public Order Act which demands that any person taking part in the procession must remain within Russell Square ahead of the protest and must not deviate from its specified route. Demonstrators must then stay in a specified part of Whitehall for the assembly, which must finish by 5.30pm, the force said. The Palestine Coalition is comprised of a number of different groups, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Stop The War. Stop The War said in an advertisement for the event on its website: 'Israel's attacks on Gaza and the West Bank are intensifying. Their starvation policy continues. And now Israel attacks on Iran seem intended to lead us into a full-scale war in the Middle East. 'The UK Government has at last accepted that Israel's actions in Gaza are unconscionable. Now they must act – words are not enough.' Discussions are ongoing regarding possible conditions for the Stop The Hate protest, the Met said. In a post on X, Stop The Hate said: 'Our families in Israel are under attack: standing bravely in the face of threats and ballistic missiles, whilst the people of Iran are bravely facing down their totalitarian government — now it's our turn to stand proudly in solidarity with them.' The demonstrations come after reports on Friday that the Home Secretary will ban Palestine Action after the group vandalised two aircraft at RAF Brize Norton. Yvette Cooper has decided to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action, after footage posted online showed two people inside the RAF base, with one appearing to spray paint into an aircraft's jet engine. PSC described the move on social media as 'outrageous', while the Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomed the news, saying: 'Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.'
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
Palestine Action to be banned after break-in at RAF base
The Home Secretary is preparing to ban Palestine Action following the group's vandalism of two planes at an RAF base, the PA news agency understands. Yvette Cooper has decided to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action. The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine. The incident is being also investigated by counter terror police. A spokesperson for Palestine Action accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide. The spokesperson said: 'When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.' The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is 'concerned in terrorism'. Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers. Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company Wagner Group. Another 14 organisations connected with Northern Ireland are also banned under previous legislation, including the IRA and UDA. Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Friday's incident at Brize Norton, described by the Prime Minister as 'disgraceful', prompted calls for Palestine Action to be banned. The group has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire. The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe the group, saying: 'Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.' CAA chief executive Gideon Falter urged the Home Secretary to proscribe the Houthi rebel group and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, adding: 'This country needs to clamp down on the domestic and foreign terrorists running amok on our soil.' Former home secretary Suella Braverman said it was 'absolutely the correct decision'. But Tom Southerden, of Amnesty International UK, said the human rights organisation was 'deeply concerned at the use of counter terrorism powers to target protest groups'. Mr Southerden said: 'Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn't be used to ban them.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil released after months in detention
Pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was released from detention Friday evening, ending more than three months of custody in a test of the executive branch's power to unilaterally act against legal U.S. residents. Khalil, whose plight has been center stage in President Donald Trump's crackdown on vocal opponents of Israel's incursion into Gaza, had been in immigration agents' custody since March. He was released from a detention center in Louisiana just after 6:30 p.m. Friday, hours after a federal judge ordered that he be freed. "Although justice prevailed," he said upon his release, "it's long, very long overdue. And this shouldn't have taken three months." He said he was traveling back to New York and couldn't wait to reunite with his wife and infant son, who was born while Khalil was in custody. "Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this," said Khalil, who was a key figure in 2024 Columbia campus protests against the war in Gaza. "That doesn't mean that there is a right person for this. There's no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide, for protesting their University, Columbia University." In an earlier statement, his wife, Noor Abdalla, said she 'can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father." 'We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians," she said in the statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin lashed out at "rogue" U.S. District Court Judge Michael Farbiarz, saying he had no authority to order Khalil's release. "This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security," McLaughlin said. "Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts." Government attorney Dhruman Sampat had argued that Congress has given the executive branch sweeping powers to determine who could be removed from the county. The courts should not have the authority to interfere, Sampat said. 'I don't think any of that is right,' Farbiarz said during the remote hearing. He added that there's 'very strong and uncontested record' that Khalil is not a flight risk and that he poses no danger to the public. 'I'm going to exercise the discretion that I have to order the release of the petitioner in this case," said Farbiarz, who is based in New Jersey. Farbiarz declined a government request to stay his order for seven days to give the government more time to fight it. Magistrate Judge Michael Hammer said Khalil will have to "surrender his passport and any other travel documents" as a condition of his release. Hammer also ordered Khalil to limit his travel to New York, where he lives; Michigan, where he has family; New Jersey, where Farbiarz is based; Louisiana, the location of his immigration case; and Washington, D.C., for congressional visits and lobbying efforts. Khalil, who has a green card, is married to a U.S. citizen and has no criminal record. He has not been charged with any crime. "No one should fear being jailed for speaking out in this country,' said Khalil's attorney Alina Das, a co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New York University School of Law. 'We are overjoyed that Mr. Khalil will finally be reunited with his family while we continue to fight his case in court.' McLaughlin, the DHS representative, said the government will continue to litigate the matter. 'It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America," she said. "The Trump Administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property." Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to justify Khalil's removal, arguing he poses a national security risk. The Cold War-era statute gives the secretary of state authority to 'personally determine' whether Khalil should remain in the country, the administration has argued. But Khalil's backers have insisted that the government's actions are meant to stifle free speech on college campuses and silence opponents of Israel's ongoing military action in Gaza. Israeli forces rolled into Gaza shortly after Hamas invaded the country on Oct. 7, 2023, in a terrorist attack that killed about 1,200 people. It has been estimated that Hamas terrorists took 251 hostages.
