A draft order, laid in Parliament today, will proscribe Hizballah
in its entirety alongside Ansaroul Islam and JNIM who operate in
the Sahel region in Africa.
Subject to Parliament’s approval, from Friday when the order
comes into effect, being a member, or inviting support for
Hizballah, Ansaroul Islam and JNIM will be a criminal offence,
carrying a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Home Secretary said:
My priority as Home Secretary is to protect the British people.
As part of this, we identify and ban any terrorist organisation
which threatens our safety and security, whatever their
motivations or ideology which is why I am taking action against
several organisations today.
Hizballah is continuing in its attempts to destabilase the
fragile situation in the Middle East – and we are no longer
able to distinguish between their already banned military wing
and the political party. Because of this, I have taken the
decision to proscribe the group in its entirety.
Foreign Secretary said:
We are staunch supporters of a stable and prosperous Lebanon.
We cannot however be complacent when it comes to terrorism – it
is clear the distinction between Hizballah’s military and
political wings does not exist, and by proscribing Hizballah in
all its forms, the government is sending a clear signal that
its destabilising activities in the region are totally
unacceptable and detrimental to the UK’s national security.
This does not change our ongoing commitment to Lebanon, with
whom we have a broad and strong relationship.
All three groups have been assessed as being currently concerned
in terrorism.
Hizballah’s External Security Organisation and its military wing
including the Jihad Council were already proscribed in 2001 and
2008 respectively.
The government has taken the decision to proscribe Hizballah in
its entirety on the basis that it is no longer tenable to
distinguish between the military and political wings of
Hizballah.
Hizballah was established during the Lebanese civil war and is
committed to armed resistance to the state of Israel. It
continues to amass weapons in direct contravention of UN Security
Council Resolutions, putting the security of the region at risk.
Its involvement in the Syrian war since 2012 continues to prolong
the conflict and the regime’s brutal and violent repression of
the Syrian people.
Ansaroul Islam seeks to impose its own strict Salafist Sharia law
in northern Burkina Faso and are known to target other ethnic
groups in the region leading to substantial internal displacement
of people. In December 2016, the group claimed responsibility for
an attack on an army outpost in Burkina Faso which killed at
least 12 soldiers.
JNIM was established in March 2017 as a federation of Al Qa’ida
aligned groups in Mali and aims to impose a strict Salafist
interpretation of Sharia law in the Sahel region and has claimed
responsibility for several attacks in the region in which people
were killed.
Furthermore, a separate order laid in Parliament today will
proscribe:
- the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front (DHKC), the
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party (DHKP) and the
Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front/Armed Propaganda Units
(DHKC/SPB) as aliases of the Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation
Party—Front (Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi-Cephesi) (DHKP-C)
which is already proscribed
- Jaysh Khalid Bin Walid (JKbW) (JKW), Jaysh Khalid bin
al-Walid (KBW) and Khalid ibn-Walid Army (KBWA) as aliases of
Daesh
These changes will come into force from tomorrow (Tuesday 26
February).
Decisions about proscribing or extending the proscription of a
particular organisation are taken after extensive consideration
and in light of a full assessment of available information.
There are currently 74 international terrorist
organisations proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000,
alongside 14 organisations connected to Northern Ireland
proscribed under separate legislation.
