Hamas has submitted a legal appeal in the United Kingdom, seeking to be delisted as a designated terrorist organization by the government.
In November 2021, then-U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that Hamas had been designated as a “terrorist” organization.
Daniel Grutters, one of the lawyers leading the legal process for Hamas in the U.K., told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Patel’s decision in 2021 was made for “political reasons” and constituted “an abuse of power.”
Grutters said the application seeks to remove Hamas from the U.K.’s list of banned organizations and that the group has the right to challenge the decision, for which he is providing legal assistance to his client during the preparation stage.
The application seeks to overturn the ban and restore Hamas’ legal status in the U.K., he said, noting that under current U.K. law, it is illegal to support or sympathize with banned organizations. If Hamas is removed from the list, the restrictions will be lifted, he added.
Legal and international arguments
One of the application’s primary arguments is that the Palestinian people have the right to armed resistance under international law, and the petition describes Israel’s occupation of Gaza as illegal, where genocide has been ongoing since October 2023, Grutters said.
He pointed out that armed resistance to these crimes is the right, and that the application explains how Hamas is exercising that right.
“It’s Hamas who’s in the Gaza Strip fighting the (Israeli) genocide, and under international law. That right to resist should be recognized and should be facilitated, in particular in the context of the crime of genocide, which is the most horrendous crime known to man and is recognized as such by most states in the world, including the United Kingdom.”
The application has been submitted to the current Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who is expected to decide within 90 days.
Grutters said there are two possible outcomes: Cooper could accept the application and submit a bill to Parliament to remove Hamas from the list, or she could reject it and provide reasons for her decision.
If rejected, Hamas can appeal to the Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission, but only if the home secretary’s decision is deemed unlawful or unreasonable.
Underlining that the main arguments behind the application are related to international law and freedom of expression, he said the human rights violations in Gaza, which is under Hamas’s administration, and the resistance against genocide should be defended under international law.
Highlighting the International Court of Justice’s findings against Israel, he said states must end these crimes, adding that “the political disagreements with groups trying to end those crimes” should not be, as suggested by the application, “determinative” as to how the Home Secretary “engages those groups.”
Background and broader context
Earlier, the U.K. had only banned the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
In her 2021 decision, Patel decided to expand the ban to cover the entire Hamas organization, arguing that there was no longer a distinction between the group’s political and military wings.
Any group banned as a terrorist organization in the country under Section 4 of the Terrorism Act can apply to have its name removed from the government’s list of banned organizations.
Hamas Political Bureau member Musa Abu Marzouk had also instructed British lawyers to appeal Patel’s decision at the time.
More than 51,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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