Police Information

PROSCRIBED ORGANISATIONS CONFIRMED

Mon, May 21, 2001

Source:

The Home Secretary has confirmed that 21 organisations will be proscribed under the new Terrorism Act.

 

The Home Secretary Jack Straw has confirmed that twenty-one international organisations will be proscribed by Order under the new Terrorism Act 2000.

This, following debates in, and approval by, both Houses of Parliament, will be effective from the 29 March 2001.

The following organisations have been proscribed:

Al-Qa'ida

Egyptian Islamic Jihad

Al-Gama'at al-Islamiya

Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armée) (GIA)

Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat) (GSPC)

Babbar Khalsa

International Sikh Youth Federation

Harakat Mujahideen

Jaish e Mohammed

Lashkar e Tayyaba

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Hizballah External Security Organisation

Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades

Palestinian Islamic Jihad – Shaqaqi

Abu Nidal Organisation

Islamic Army of Aden

Mujaheddin e Khalq

Kurdistan Workers' Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan) (PKK)

Revolutionary Peoples' Liberation Party - Front (Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi - Cephesi) (DHKP-C)

Basque Homeland and Liberty (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) (ETA)

17 November Revolutionary Organisation (N17)

 

NOTES.

1. Under Part II of the Terrorism Act 2000, the Secretary of State has the power to proscribe any organisation, which he believes 'is concerned in terrorism'. An organisation is 'concerned in terrorism' if it commits or participates in acts of terrorism, prepares for terrorism, promotes or encourages terrorism, or is otherwise concerned in terrorism either in the UK or abroad. 'Organisation' is defined as including 'any association or combination of persons'. Once the statutory criteria are satisfied, the Secretary of State then has discretion whether or not to proscribe a particular organisation.

2. In reaching his decisions, the Home Secretary also took into account a number of factors including:

The nature and scale of an organisation's activities;

The specific threat that it poses to the UK;

The specific threat that it poses to British nationals overseas;

The extent of the organisation's presence in the UK; and

The need to support other members of the international community in the global fight against terrorism.

3. The list of organisations concerned in terrorism connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland, which are already proscribed in Schedule 2 of the Act, is unamended by the Order.

4. A proscribed organisation - or any person affected by its proscription - can make an application to the Secretary of State for de-proscription. Should an application be refused, an appeal can then be made to the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC), established by section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2000.