The government’s claim that Palestine Action (PA) was funded by Iran was unsubstantiated, a government anti-terror advisor is to suggest.

Jonathan Hall KC – the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, and a member of the government’s proscription review group, which consulted on the PA ban – will tell Channel 4’s Dispatches programme tonight that the government’s press briefings linking Palestine Action to Iran were “wrong”, Novara Media can reveal. Hall will add that he was “not aware” of any evidence behind the government’s claims.

“The admission of lying to the public in order to justify banning Palestine Action shows how baseless the proscription truly is,” Huda Ammori, the group’s co-founder, told Novara Media.

In June, on the same day that home secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe PA, the Times reported that the Home Office had launched an investigation into PA over concerns that Iran was making donations to the direct action group via proxies. The Times cited no evidence for the purported link, nor quoted any government officials, leading many to conclude that the piece was briefed directly by the Home Office.

PA has repeatedly described the claim – which was repeated in several outlets, including the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Guardian and GB News – as “baseless”.

It seems the government’s own terrorism advisor agrees.

“If there is any secret evidence about Iran or Hamas, we won’t be able to find it out, will we?” reporter Matt Shea asks Hall.

“No,” Hall responds. “I mean, I don’t think you should get too excited about that.”

“You don’t think there’s anything there?” Shea asks. “Not that I’m aware of,” says Hall.

There have long been questions about the origins of the government’s Iran claim. In July, the Guardian noted that the Times report emerged just two days after pro-Israel lobbyists We Believe in Israel – whose director, Luke Akehurst, is a backbench Labour MP – claimed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is the “dark puppeteer” of PA. In November, Private Eye reported that the claim was planted in the press by CMS Strategic, a PR company that also works for Elbit Systems (the company categorically denied it).

In July, Declassified reported that MI5’s terrorism analysts had concluded that “the majority of direct action by Palestine Action would not be classified as terrorism”, and had made no mention of PA’s links to Iran.

The Channel 4 Dispatches episode will likely cast a shadow over the ongoing judicial review of the government’s proscription decision, brought by Ammori. A decision in the judicial review is expected this month.

“Government ministers, including former home secretary Yvette Cooper, lied to the public in an attempt to manufacture consent for the draconian ban,” said Ammori.

The Home Office did not respond to Novara Media’s request for comment on Hall’s remarks, though it issued this statement in response to the Dispatches episode: “Palestine Action has conducted an escalating campaign involving not just sustained criminal damage, including to Britain’s national security infrastructure, but also intimidation and alleged violence and serious injuries to individuals. That kind of activity puts the safety and security of the public at risk.”

Palestine Action: The Truth Behind the Ban: Dispatches airs at 10.30pm on Monday 9 February on Channel 4.

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