Irish novelist Sally Rooney has warned that Britain’s designation of the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation could prevent her from receiving royalties and may even force her books to be withdrawn from sale in the UK.
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The bestselling author made the remarks in a witness statement released on Thursday during a High Court challenge seeking to overturn the government’s ban. Rooney said production company Element Pictures — which adapted her novels Normal People and Conversations with Friends for the BBC — had told her agent in September that paying her royalties could potentially constitute a criminal offence after she publicly pledged to donate future earnings to Palestine Action.
Rooney added that it was unclear whether her publisher, Faber & Faber, could legally continue paying royalties on her book sales, raising the possibility that her titles might have to be removed from British bookstores. “The disappearance of my work from bookshops would mark a truly extreme incursion by the state into the realm of artistic expression,” she said.
Her statement was filed in support of Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, who argues the organisation’s designation as a terrorist group amounts to an authoritarian crackdown on protest. The group was banned in July.
According to police, more than 2,000 people have since been arrested for displaying signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,” including over 100 protesters gathered outside the court on Wednesday.
