Support the deproscription application

Dear [add your MP’s name here],

As one of your constituents, I am writing to call for your support for the applications brought by Riverway Law and CAGE International to remove the organisation known as Hamas from the list of proscribed terrorist organisations.

According to the submission documents, the grounds for this deproscription case are as follows:

1- Hamas’s continued proscription is contrary to the European Convention of Human Rights, to which the UK is still a signatory, by violating Article 10, which guarantees freedom of expression, as well as Article 11, which guarantees freedom of association and assembly – The terror proscription of Hamas has been used as a pretext to investigate and persecute journalists, students, community activists, medical professionals, and aid workers in the pursuit of the functions of their professions, the details of which may be found at https://www.cage.ngo/product/application-to-deproscribe-hamas

2- Hamas’s proscription is disproportionate. The reality is that Hamas does not, and nor has it at any point posed a threat to British national security or specifically British citizens, which the group has explicitly reiterated. An April 2024 House of Commons briefing on proscribed organisations confirmed the military wing of Hamas has not directly attacked UK or Western interests, has not operated outside of Israel and the Occupied Territories, and has no overt representation in the UK. It also stated that H*mas's political wing is represented by charitable organisations, which raise and remit funds for welfare purposes. (https://t.co/KWEsqLgULl). The activities of Hamas include its governance of the Gaza Strip and its civil institutions – terror sanctions against those who engage with these institutions have only served to erode Gaza’s civil society and exacerbate the well-documented deteriorating humanitarian situation in the strip, which was already ongoing before 2023.

3- The 2021 decision to proscribe the whole of Hamas was politically biased and is an impediment to peace. Hamas’s armed wing was proscribed in 2001, but in 2021, the then home-secretary, Priti Patel, extended this proscription to include Hamas’s political wing. This effectively closed the door to the possibility of supporting a negotiated solution such as that in the case of the north of Ireland, which was achieved through negotiations with the IRA’s still-legal political wing, Sinn Féin, which currently holds a majority of seats in both the north and south of Ireland. It should be considered that Ms Patel, a member of Conservative Friends of Israel, was once forced to resign from a ministerial position after it transpired that she had misled the public about undisclosed meetings with senior Israeli officials (including Benjamin Netanyahu), which should raise serious questions as to whether her motivations for proscribing Hamas were tainted by a conflict of interest and thereby constituted an abuse of the proscription power.

4- Hamas’s continued proscription is contrary to the UK’s obligations under international law. This includes the obligation to oppose apartheid (International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid 1978), war crimes and crimes against humanity (Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute), and genocide (Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948), as well as to bring an end to the unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territories and respect the dignity of the Palestinian people (UN GA resolution ES-10/24). All of the above crimes are documented by leading human rights groups and experts, and are currently subject to investigation by international courts. Furthermore, the ongoing proscription of Palestinian parties effectively criminalises Palestinians from being able exercise their right to defend themselves against occupation and ethnic cleansing as outlined in the UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43.2. 

As such, I must request that, as my elected member of Parliament, you add your voice to the call for a lifting of this proscription, which rather than protecting British citizens, has led to a crackdown on basic civil liberties in Britain and has served to perpetuate Britain's complicity in crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people. This is a historic opportunity for the British State to remedy such violations of international and domestic law, as well as to rectify its complicity in the oppression of Palestinians, and to lay the essential groundwork for a negotiated political settlement.

Yours sincerely,

A concerned constituent