British police are reviewing a social media post by the wife of National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell in which she appears to endorse Palestine Action, a group proscribed in the country as a “terrorist” organisation. She was responding to a post defending Irish novelist Sally Rooney, who this week announced her books would no longer be sold in the United Kingdom over her plans to use her royalties to support Palestine Action. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson on Friday said Helm’s post is “being assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required”.
A government spokesperson cited by the news agency said the views expressed in Helm’s post “are held by an individual who does not represent the government in any capacity”. UK-based activist group Defend Our Juries defended Helm for defying what it called an “absurdly authoritarian ban on Palestine Action”. Being a member or a supporter is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Since the ban went into effect, police have arrested more than 3,500 people in the UK for alleged support of the group, many of them for holding up placards, according to rights group Amnesty International. Palestine Action has contested its proscription, but the Court of Appeal upheld it in June. The UK’s new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband last month said the government was “looking at” the Palestine Action ban, adding that he did not believe mass arrests resulting from its proscription were “anyone’s intent”.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
