The proscription of Palestine Action has directly led to a surge in people arrested for terror-related offences, with the percentage of those being charged plummeting to a record low.
Home Office data shows that in 2025 a record 3034 people were arrested for terror-related offences, a more than 1000% increase from the 250 people arrested in 2024.
Of those arrests, 2779 (92%) were linked to supporting Palestine Action, following its proscription last July.
The charge rate for terrorism arrests has fallen to 16% – down from 44% the previous year and lower than any year since 2002.
Alex, whose name has been changed to protect his anonymity, was arrested in early 2025 under section 12 of the terrorism act, which made it illegal to support a proscribed (banned) organisation.
This includes inviting support, arranging meetings to further a group’s activities, or expressing an opinion supportive of the group while being reckless as to whether this encourages others.
He said: “My passport was seized from my flat and I was given bail conditions. I was bailed to return in March. Then I was bailed to return at the beginning of June. That was then postponed to September. September was then postponed to December. December was postponed without a specific date.
“Then at the end of January, I was informed that I was released under investigation.”
If an arrestee is bailed to return they have been released from police custody but are legally required to return to a specific police station at a designated date and time.
This occurs when an investigation is ongoing but there is insufficient evidence to charge them immediately.
Under investigation, however, means an arrestee has no fixed return date and usually no conditions, but the investigation is still ongoing, often resulting in longer, less structured wait times.
Alex spent more than a year in limbo and it was only in April, 14 months after his arrest, that he got his passport back.
He added: “The process is the punishment to a big degree. Even if you do get charged, you go through court and if you get found not guilty at the end you will still have been punished sufficiently. The whole sort of process of the terrorism act is doing that to a person, still taking a couple years out of your life.
“It happened in my last year of university, which is obviously when people should start considering what to do afterwards.
“When you’re on bail even when you’ve not been charged with an offence, even now, although I’m still under investigation, I can’t fully relax and start planning what I’m supposed to do in my life.”
Home Office data also shows that the number of people bailed to return or released under investigation has increased by 7100%.
At the end of 2024, 34 people were bailed to return and released under investigation, while that number grew to 2448 in 2025.
Just four years earlier, at the end of 2021, there were no terrorism arrestees bailed to return or under investigation.
The main offence for which those associated with Palestine Action are arrested is Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 – displaying or publishing articles or images in support of a proscribed organisation.
In 2024, before Palestine Action was banned, just two people were arrested for this, but in 2025, 406 people were arrested for this.
In the entire history of the Terrorism Act 2000, only 440 people have been arrested under section 13, meaning that arrests in 2025 make up 92% of all section 13 arrests.
Responding to the initial ban on Palestine Action, an Amnesty International Spokesperson said: “Amnesty International condemns the Government’s decision to ban Palestine Action under anti-terror laws, as an unprecedented legal overreach.
“The UK has a deeply flawed and overly broad definition of terrorism which human right monitors including Amnesty International have been warning about for years. This latest disturbing move only serves to highlight that those warnings were justified.”
Alex said: “The label terrorist has been made to apply to so much more than it actually is. I would call them free speech arrests.”
Palestine Action is a British pro-Palestinian direct action network and was first proscribed by the Government as a terrorist organisation following the security breach at RAF Brize Norton and vandalism of a plane.
This ban was subsequently deemed unlawful by the High Court – the government is currently appealing this in the Court of Appeal.
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