LONDON: Eighteen student groups at British universities have supported legal moves to remove Hamas from the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist organizations.

Some of the groups are affiliated with student unions at leading UK academic institutions, including the London School of Economics, the University of Edinburgh, and University College London.

The groups said the legal petition “defends the right of students, academics and communities to think freely, speak openly and organize without fear of being criminalized,” The Times newspaper reported on Monday.

In April, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk instructed British firm Riverway Law to take legal action with the aim of removing his organization from a Home Office list of terrorist groups. The military wing of Hamas was banned by UK authorities in 2001. The ban was extended in 2021 to include its political bureau.

Lawyers from the firm said in April that by banning Hamas, “Britain is effectively denying the Palestinians the right to defend themselves.” The organization “does not pose any threat” to Britain’s national security, they added, and the ban was therefore “disproportionate.”

The prohibition of Hamas means it is a criminal offense for anyone in the UK to have any links with the organization or show support for it.

The student groups said the ban on Hamas “creates an atmosphere where advocacy for Palestine becomes a legal risk,” and students who participated in pro-Palestinian activism faced intimidation and threats.

“We therefore stand in support of Riverway Law’s application to deproscribe Hamas, not as an endorsement of any group, but to protect the civic space essential for academic freedom and open inquiry,” they said.

The student organizations backing the legal challenge include Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society, LSE Divest Encampment for Liberation, University of Birmingham Friends of Palestine, Newcastle Apartheid Off Campus, and the Students Against Apartheid Coalition at the University of Leeds.

UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN chief Antonio Guterres is “concerned” by reports that Sudanese paramilitaries for the first time struck Port Sudan, the seat of the army-aligned government during the country’s two-year war, a spokesman said Monday.
“The attack on port Sudan is a worrying development threatening the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations in an area so far spared from experiencing the devastating conflict seen in many other parts of the country,” Farhan Haq told reporters.
He said that Sunday’s attacks “appear to be the latest in a series of retaliatory military operations” conducted by paramilitaries and the army to target airports in each other’s areas of control.
Army spokesman Nabil Abdallah said that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “targeted Osman Digna Air Base, a goods warehouse and some civilian facilities in the city of Port Sudan with suicide drones.”
He reported no casualties and “limited damage.”
AFP images showed smoke above the airport area, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) from the nearest known RSF positions on capital Khartoum’s outskirts.
The RSF, battling the regular army since April 2023, have increasingly used drones since losing territory including much of Khartoum in March.
The paramilitaries led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo are battling the regular army, headed by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands and uprooted 13 million.
In the conflict’s early days, the government relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan, which until Sunday had been spared the violence.
UN agencies have also moved their operations to Port Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge.
Haq said the attacks “have not had a direct impact on the humanitarian operations or activities in Port Sudan,” but said that UN aid flights to and from the city had been temporarily put on hold.
“None of our offices, premises or warehouses have been impacted, and we continue to carry out our regular operations,” he added.