Membership
of two extremist groups will become a criminal offence under planned changes to
UK terror laws.
Home
Secretary Theresa May wants to outlaw UK-based Minbar Ansar Deen and
Nigeria-based Boko Haram.
An
order to ban the radical Islamist organisations from operating in the UK will
take effect from midnight on Friday if it is approved by Parliament.
Minbar
Ansar Deen, also known as Ansar al-Sharia UK, allegedly promotes terrorism by
distributing content through its online forum.
It
encourages individuals to travel overseas to engage in extremist activity,
specifically fighting, the Home Office said.
The
Government said banning Boko Haram, which aspires to establish Islamic law in
Nigeria, will prevent the group from operating in the UK and give the police
powers to tackle any UK-based support for the group.
Decisions
to proscribe the organisations are understood to be unrelated to the murder of
soldier Drummer Lee Rigby near Woolwich barracks in south-east London in May.
The
penalties for proscription offences can be a maximum of 10 years in prison or a
£5,000 fine.
Under
the Terrorism Act 2000, the Home Secretary can proscribe an organisation if it
is believed to be concerned in terrorism.
But
a high threshold which takes into account the threat the group poses to the UK
has to be met before the minister can go ahead.
If
approved by Parliament, it will be a criminal offence to belong to or back
Minbar Ansar Deen or Boko Haram, as well arrange meetings or wear clothing in
support of them.
Other
proscribed groups include al Qaeda, Al Shabaab and Islam4UK, which was led by
Anjem Choudary before it was banned.
No comments:
Post a Comment
WE APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENT. THIS IS KAF COMMUNITY