H3Deproscription: the lawful route to challenge a terrorist designation
- The same law that bans a group provides the form to unban it.
- The MEK went from “terrorists” to delisted — in London, Brussels and Washington.
- Arguing a ban is wrong is lawful speech; the Act itself shields the application process.
Section 4 of the UK's Terrorism Act 2000 lets a proscribed organisation, or any person affected by the ban, apply to the Home Secretary for deproscription, with appeal to the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission and onward to the Court of Appeal — and section 10 makes evidence of anything done in relation to such an application inadmissible in proceedings for a proscription offence; the US equivalent, 8 U.S.C. § 1189, lets a designated group petition the Secretary of State for revocation every two years, subject to review in the DC Circuit. Designations do get reversed: the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran was deproscribed in the UK in June 2008 after the Court of Appeal upheld POAC's ruling that the refusal to deproscribe was “perverse”, was removed from the EU list in 2009 and delisted by the US State Department in 2012, while in the Palestine Action case the Divisional Court held the proscription unlawful in February 2026 before the Court of Appeal allowed the Home Secretary's appeal that June, leaving the ban in force pending any Supreme Court appeal.
The record — 6 sources
Date, publication and headline for each source, as the source itself published them. Sorted by publication date. 3 of 6 dated; a blank means the publisher's page didn't expose it, and we don't guess.
| Date | Publication | Headline |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-23 | Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations | |
| 2023-09-15 | FACTSHEET: Proscription | |
| 2026-06-15 | Breaking down the Court of Appeal judgment on Palestine Action’s proscription - Liberty | |
| — | Terrorism Act 2000 | |
| — | Delisting of the Mujahedin-e Khalq | |
| — | headline not retrievedjudiciary.uk |