![\"Palestine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2.82573117.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMs Rooney claims she cannot publish or produce new work in the UK while the ban on Palestine Action remains in force\n<\/p>\n
Palestine Action\u2019s co-founder Huda Ammori is taking legal action against the UK\u2019s Home Office over then-home secretary Yvette Cooper\u2019s decision to proscribe the group under anti-terror laws.<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s Home Office is defending the claim.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori is taking legal action (PA)<\/p>\n
The ban, which began on July 5, made membership of, or support for, the direct-action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.<\/p>\n
A total of 143 people were arrested after demonstrations took place during the first day of the challenge at the High Court in London yesterday, the Metropolitan Police said.<\/p>\n
Today, Ms Ammori\u2019s barrister Raza Husain KC said the Ms Rooney believed that publishers and producers could be committing a criminal offence by paying her due to her \u201cvocal\u201d support for the banned group.<\/p>\n
In August, Downing Street warned that she risked committing a terrorist offence after the award-winning author said she would donate earnings from her books and BBC adaptations of novels Normal People and Conversations With Friends to support the banned group, in a piece for the Irish Times.<\/p>\n
In witness statements for the legal challenge made public today, Ms Rooney stated the producer of those programmes said they had been advised that they could not send money to her agent if it could be used to fund Palestine Action because that would be a crime under anti-terror laws.<\/p>\n
The author said it was \u201cunclear\u201d whether any UK company could make payments to her and that if she was prevented from profiting from her work, her income would be \u201cenormously restricted\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIf I were to write another screenplay, television show or similar creative work, I would not be able to have it produced or distributed by a company based in England and Wales without, expressly or tacitly, accepting that I would not be paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old writer said the \u201cuncertainty\u201d about how the ban affected her contracts also meant she and her publisher could not predict how it could affect her novels.<\/p>\n
She described how the publication of her books ess based on royalties on sales, and that non-payment of the royalties would mean she could terminate the contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf, therefore, Faber and Faber Limited are legally prohibited from paying me the royalties I am owed, my existing works may have to be withdrawn from sale and would therefore no longer be available to readers in the UK,\u201d Ms Rooney added, saying this would be \u201ca truly extreme incursion by the state into the realm of artistic expression\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Rooney then said it was \u201calmost certain\u201d she could not publish or produce new work in the UK while the ban remained in force.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cIf Palestine Action is still proscribed by the time my next book is due for publication, then that book will be available to readers all over the world and in dozens of languages, but will be unavailable to readers in the United Kingdom simply because no-one will be permitted to publish it, unless I am content to give it away for free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Rooney concluded: \u201cI am of the view that the passionate opposition to this proscription is due not only to the broad base of support for direct action against genocide, but also to the unprecedented misuse of anti-terrorism legislation to curtail civil liberties.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Multiple](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2.82542314.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Multiple demonstrations have taken place against the ban (Aaron Chown\/PA)<\/p>\n
James Eadie KC, for the Home Office, said that a debate about how a terrorist organisation was defined was for the UK parliament to decide.<\/p>\n
The barrister told the court: \u201cPalestine Action is within the definition of a terrorist organisation applying the test that parliament has determined that and provided for, we say compatibly, in the primary legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our democratic society, these issues are matters for parliament to judge and parliament\u2019s judgment is expressed in the current legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Sally](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/e8694a56-0d37-43ff-bca5-29101c8988fe.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Sally Rooney<\/p>\n
Today’s News in 90 Seconds – Thursday, November 27<\/p>\n
In written submissions, Mr Eadie said that proscription\u2019s aim is \u201cstifling organisations concerned in terrorism and for members of the public to face criminal liability for joining or supporting such organisations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat serves to ensure proscribed organisations are deprived of the oxygen of publicity as well as both vocal and financial support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Eadie also said the ban \u201cstrikes a fair balance between interference with the rights of the individuals affected and the interests of the community\u201d.<\/p>\n
The barrister also emphasised that the ban had not prevented people from protesting against Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza or in support of Palestinians.<\/p>\n
He later said: \u201cWhilst it has at all times been open to supporters of Palestine Action to protest against its proscription without breaking the law, certain individuals have instead repeatedly sought to flout Palestine Action\u2019s proscription.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hearing before Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn is due to conclude on December 2, with a decision expected in writing at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ms Rooney claims she cannot publish or produce new work in the UK while the ban on Palestine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-163530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}