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September 22, 2004
Spot the difference
As an adjunct to the Justice post below I thought it might be interesting to see which organisations giving your support to may result in detention under the Terrorism Act 2000. Being a member of, or supporting any of the following may result in your being detained indefinitely without trial in this country if you're not a British citizen:- Al-Qaida
- Egyptian Islamic Jihad
- Al-Gamaat al-Islamiya
- Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Armee)( GIA)
- Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication 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 ta Askatasuna) (ETA)
- 17 November Revolutionary Organisation (N17).
Now take a look at the list of terrorist groups banned by the EU:
- Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA)
- Euskadi Ta Askatasuna/Tierra Vasca y Libertad/ Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
- Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre/ Antifascist Resistance
- Groups First of October (GRAPO)
- Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem
- Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF)
- Orange Volunteers (OV)
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
- Real IRA
- Red Hand Defenders (RHD)
- Revolutionary Nuclei/Epanastatiki Pirines
- Revolutionary Organisation 17 November/ Dekati Evdomi Noemvri
- Revolutionary Popular Struggle/ Epanastatikos Laikos Agonas (ELA)
- Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UDA/UFF)
Notice something? Yup, in spite of all the suffering and loss endured by the people of the United Kingdom during the various terrorist campaigns in Northern Ireland, in spite of the fact that the various Ulster-based terrorist groups have caused more deaths and injuries in the UK than all the other organisations banned under the Terrorism Act 2000, you won't find the Real IRA (Omagh bombing), the Ulster Defence Association, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the Continuity IRA, the Loyalist Volunteer Force, the Orange Volunteers, or the Red Hand Defenders. Yet of the 21 organisations that are on the list, not one has ever carried out a major terrorist act in this country.
So the question is whether the purpose of the Terrorism Act 2000 is really to prevent terrorism in this country, or to legitimise illegal state detentions? Your call.
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Posted by Clive on September 22, 2004 1:43 PM in the category Old Stuff