UK rejects Hamas appeal to be removed from terror list

Group argued ban made UK 'complicit in genocide'

Members of the Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Getty Images

Hamas has failed in a bid to be removed from the list of terrorist organisations banned by the UK.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the group submitted a 106-page legal application in April to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the 2021 designation reversed.

They claimed that Hamas’s proscription makes the UK “complicit in a genocide”, by denying Palestinians “legitimacy of the struggle” against the Israeli “occupation”.

The application also claimed that the proscription as a terrorist group was contrary to the European Court of Human Rights because it restricted the freedom of speech and right to protest.

The submission described the designation as “disproportionate” because “Hamas does not pose a threat to Britain or British citizens”.

When the bid was submitted, Ms Cooper said Hamas was a terrorist organisation which carried out a “barbaric terrorist attack" on October 7, 2023. The Home Office has now confirmed that the application has failed.

“The government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under regular review,” said the department.

 “While we do not routinely comment on individual groups proscribed, we can confirm that Harakat al-Muqawamah (Hamas) is still listed as a proscribed organisation.”

The application was filed by solicitor Fahad Ansari, director of Riverway Law, with the assistance of barristers Franck Magennis, who practises at Garden Court Chambers, and Daniel Grutters of One Pump Court.

The appeal was fronted by Hamas’s head of international relations Mousa Abu Marzouk, who provided a witness statement on the organisation and of the events on October 7, 2023.

The application also said proscription has prevented Hamas’s ability to broker a political solution to the conflict, drawing on examples from Northern Ireland and South Africa.

Hamas’s military wing was proscribed in 2001, but in 2021 home secretary Priti Patel extended it to the organisation’s political wing.

Last week, Palestine Action failed to halt its proscription as a terrorist organisation after mounting its own legal challenge.

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, brought the legal challenge against the Home Office over Ms Cooper's decision to ban the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Membership or support for the direct action group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.