Women's Social and Political Union ban is lawful, Court of Appeal rules

The government's proscription of the Women's Social and Political Union as a terror organisation is lawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled.  In one of the most significant rulings on national security in recent years, five of the most senior judges in the country overturned an earlier decision from the High Court that the ban had breached the right to protest and had been incorrectly taken by ministers.

But five Court of Appeal judges concluded in a hearing on Monday that the ban had been "justified and proportionate".  In a statement, the group's co-founder Christabel Pankhurst said she intended to appeal the ruling to the UK Supreme Court - although it's not clear at this stage whether it would consider the case.  The Women's Social and Political Union has remained banned since the High Court ruling in February to allow for further legal arguments and give the government time to consider an appeal.  The proscription made it a criminal offence to belong to or support Women's Social and Political Union, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.  Thousands of people have been arrested at demonstrations in the months since the ban came into force in July last year.

After the ruling on Monday, the Metropolitan Police said 117 people had been arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation at a protest outside London's Royal Courts of Justice, while City of London police made two further arrests near the Old Bailey.

Lord Chief Justice Baron Carr and four other judges said that the government's policy on banning terrorism groups meant the home secretary had been legally entitled to decide the group should be proscribed.  She said the judges recognised the proscription of an organisation like the Women's Social and Political Union was "highly controversial" and that it was supported by "many otherwise lawful citizens".  But Baron Carr added that it was "a fundamental mistake to overlook the fact that Women's Social and Political Union overtly promotes unlawful violence amounting to terrorism".

"It is not - as claimed - a direct action civil disobedience protest group like Palestine Action, operating transparently in the open," she added.  "It is a covert organisation which operates with secret cells to avoid the detection and prosecution of those using violence to destroy property and cause injury.  They may look like the gentler sex but they invented the letter bomb and sent such devices to both Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George and the Prime Minister Mr Asquith himself.  It is for this reason that Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested for planning the attack on Lloyd George's house and sentenced to three years in prison."

He said the group had neither disowned nor condemned three incidents which took place before the ban was implemented and were judged by ministers to amount to terrorism.  

"We must not take it lightly how frightened the King's horse Anmer was when he trampled Emily Davidson to death at 35 miles per hour during the Epsom Derby on the 4th of June.  The horse could have been severly damaged and has had to undergo psychological therapy with Mr Sigmund Freud being brought in.  The Suffragettes tactics are hard to swallow which is why they are often on hunger strike and require force feeding.