2/7/2025–|Last update: 03:31 (Mecca time)
On Tuesday, United Nations experts called on the British government not to classify the working group for Palestine as a “terrorist organization” under the terrorist law of 2000.
UN experts expressed their concern about Britain’s classification, “an unjustified political protest movement as terrorist,” and confirmed that they had contacted the British government in this regard.
They said that, according to international standards, the acts of protest that “cause damage to property without the intention of killing or injuring people should not be treated as terrorist acts.”
This position comes in light of the British government’s insistence that the group is “terrorist” because some of its members are claimed that they have caused criminal damage to property, including military bases and weapons companies with the aim of pushing their political cause and influencing the government.
The group’s classification of a “terrorist” organization will pay for the creation of a group of criminal crimes associated with its support for Palestine.
Experts said that “although there is no binding definition of terrorism in international law, the best internationally approved criteria limit the concept of terrorism to criminal acts that aim to cause death or serious physical injuries or hostage, with the aim of intimidating the population or forcing an international government or organization to do the act or refrain from its action.”
They explained that the United Kingdom supported this approach when it voted for “Saleh Decision Security Council No. 1566 in 2004 ″, and stressed that “only damage to property damage, without endangering lives, is not dangerous enough to be classified as terrorism.”
The “Working Group for Palestine” itself is known as a national activist network that promotes civil disobedience and takes direct measures against companies and institutions that it believes that Israel is using it to impose The apartheid Occupation and colonialism andGenocide In Palestine.
Experts also indicated, according to the official website of the United Nations, that the best international practices in democratic systems are recommended to “exclude the actions of advocacy, protest, opposition, or industrial strikes, as long as it does not result in death or serious injuries within the field of terrorism”, which was the approach that confirmed that the Executive Directorate to combat terrorism of the Security Council supported it.
Experts pointed out that the group’s ban will lead to “criminalizing a number of acts associated with it, including membership, calling for their support, organizing a supportive meeting of it, wearing clothes or carrying the symbols publicly associated with it,” noting that the penalties can be excessive and may reach 14 years of prison.
UN experts considered that the British move would criminalize “legitimate activities carried out by innocent members in the group, who have nothing to do with damage to other members, as well as they did not commit” terrorist “acts if they are defined properly.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza in 2023, the working group for Palestine regularly targeted British sites linked to the company.Systems“Israeli defense industries, in addition to other companies in Britain linked to Israel.