§ Mr. PondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional terrorist organisations he intends to proscribe, following the coming into force of the Terrorism Act 2000. [151894]
§ Mr. StrawI have today laid a draft Order, under section 123(4)(a) of the Terrorism Act, recommending to Parliament that the following organisations be added to the list of proscribed organisations in Schedule 2 to the Act:
- Al-Qa'ida
- Egyptian Islamic Jihad
- Al-Gama'at al-Islamiya
- Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armé) (GIA)
709W - 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 to Askatasuna) (ETA)
- 17 November Revolutionary Organisation (N17)
Under section 3(3)(a) of the Act, I may by order add an organisation to schedule 2, where I believe that it is concerned in terrorism, as defined in section 1 of the Act. I am entirely satisfied that the organisations named above are "concerned in terrorism" as set out in section 3(5) of the Act, and have, after careful consideration, decided to exercise my discretion to proscribe them. The draft Order is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. There will therefore be a debate in both Houses on my recommendations. If approved by Parliament, the proscriptions will take effect on the day after I sign the Order. To assist consideration by both Houses, I have placed in the Libraries, the Vote Office, and the Printed Paper Office copies of a Note setting out a brief summary in respect of each organisation named in the draft Order.
The Act provides for an appeal process. After the Order comes into force, it will be open for any of the organisations so proscribed, or any person affected by their proscription, to make application to me for deproscription. If that application is refused, the Act provides for an appeal to a new independent tribunal, the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission, established by the Terrorism Act.