The British authorities plans to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, a world Islamist political group, by designating it a terrorist group, the federal government introduced on Monday, citing what it mentioned was the group’s reward for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assault on Israel.
Britain’s Dwelling Workplace introduced the plan in an announcement saying that the brand new designation would imply that “belonging to, inviting assist for and displaying articles in a public place in a approach that arouses suspicion of membership or assist for the group can be a prison offense.”
Parliament is predicted to debate and vote on the measure this week. If authorized, it might take impact as early as Friday.
James Cleverly, the house secretary, mentioned in an announcement on Monday, “Hizb ut-Tahrir is an antisemitic group that actively promotes and encourages terrorism, together with praising and celebrating the appalling 7 October assaults.”
The British department of the Hizb ut-Tahrir mentioned that the hassle to ban it was “a determined measure to censor debate in regards to the genocide in Palestine and to cease Islam’s simply political various,” and that it might problem the measure utilizing all authorized means.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a Sunni Islamist group based in 1953 that’s headquartered in Lebanon, has lengthy been lively — and controversial — in Britain. It requires a single Islamic authorities throughout the Muslim world and has beforehand celebrated violence towards Israel.
Earlier British governments proposed outlawing the group, however didn’t. Prime Minister Tony Blair mentioned in 2005, amid a crackdown on extremism following coordinated suicide bombings in London on July 7 that year, that he would ban it, as did Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. (Mr. Cameron is at the moment Britain’s overseas secretary.).
However a government watchdog on terrorism legislation and rights teams warned towards these measures in 2011, arguing partially that Hizb-ut-Tahrir was not violent in Britain underneath the authorized parameters of the time, they usually had been dropped.
In October, a video emerged of an indication organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, alongside a a lot bigger peaceable protest, during which a person repeatedly requires “jihad,” prompting criticism of the group.
Tom Tugendhat, Britain’s safety minister, mentioned that the group’s “celebration of Hamas’ appalling assaults on Israel, going as far as to name the terrorists who raped and murdered Israeli residents ‘heroes’ is disgraceful.”