Terrorism

UK government plans to ban Palestine Action under terrorism legislation are "excessive and disproportionate" and arguably unlawful, human rights organisations have warned. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday confirmed in a written statement to MPs that she intends to proscribe the protest group u

A man who stabbed a police officer and attempted to set fire to a police station has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years after it was found the incident was connected to terrorism.   Alexander Dighton, 28, admitted 11 offences relating to a violent attack at Talbot Green P

Home Secretary James Cleverly has laid a draft order before Parliament to proscribe the international Sunni Islamist political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir under the Terrorism Act 2000. If agreed by Parliament, the order will come into force on 19 January 2024. This means that belonging to, inviting

Plans to amend the law on glorifying terrorism in the wake of the pro-Palestine marches should not be implemented as doing so would not help the police, MI5 or the probation service, the UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has said. In a 15-page report submitted to th

Russia's Wagner Group – the private military company whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led an abortive rebellion against Vladimir Putin before being killed in a plane crash last month – is to be proscribed in the UK as a terrorist organisation. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has today laid

A former security guard’s communications with neo-Nazi extremists were uncovered after an online chat group was infiltrated by an undercover counter-terrorism officer. Within days of joining the group, James Farrell shared a video with detailed instructions on how to construct a 3D-printed, ho

Sir Declan Morgan QC PC, the former lord chief justice of Northern Ireland, is chairing an Independent Commission on Counter-terrorism Law, Policy and Practice which will examine the impact of current counter-terrorism laws. The commission has launched its public call for evidence and will also call

Taking away the rights of terrorists to automatic early release from prison threatens their human rights, new analysis argues. The government made emergency changes to sentencing law including ending the automatic early release of terrorist offenders at the halfway point of qualifying custodial sent

Turkish human rights lawyer Eren Keskin has been sentenced to more than six years' imprisonment for terror offences. Ms Keskin, who co-chairs the Ankara-based NGO the Human Rights Association (İHD), was one of four defendants in a case concerning Özgür Gündem, a daily newspaper which

People suspected of terrorism offences would face minimum jail terms of 14 years under proposed legislation. Under the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill, introduced to Parliament today, the standard of proof for terrorism prevention and investigation measures (Tpims) imposed on individuals who a

Dr Kasey McCall Smith is a senior lecturer in public international law at Edinburgh University. She first travelled to Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in 2016 and has returned nine times since as part of a project examining the effects of torture on fair trial rights. In 2017 I wrote a piece for

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned that plans to extend jail terms for terrorists could make them more dangerous upon release, The Times reports. Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said inmates could be exposed to “worse influences” in prison t

Senior academics from across the UK have signed a letter in support of the prisoner reintegration programme Learning Together following the terrorist attack on London Bridge. In the letter, published by The Times, the authors say the Cambridge University programme "has been one of the few true succe

The UK government should review the system by which public places are assessed as possible targets for terrorists following the London Bridge attack, the Chief Coroner for England and Wales has said. Eight people were killed two years ago when three men drove into pedestrians on the bridge before st

A man who was jailed at the age of 14 for encouraging another to murder Australian police officers has been granted anonymity for life. Judges in the High Court of England and Wales ruled that he would suffer "serious harm" if he were publicly named.