Baroness Cohen of Pimlico (Labour)

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What additional terrorist organisations they intend to proscribe, following the coming into force of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Lord Bassam of Brighton (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Labour)

My right honourable friend the Home Secretary has 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 Armee) (GIA)

Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Prediction 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)

Under Section 3(3)(a) of the Act, my right honourable friend the Home Secretary may by order add an organisation to Schedule 2 where he believes that it is concerned in terrorism, as defined in Section 1 of the Act. He is entirely satisfied that the organisations named above are "concerned in terrorism" as set out in Section 3(5) of the Act, and has, after careful consideration, decided to exercise his discretion to proscribe them. The draft order is subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. There will therefore be a debate in both Houses on his recommendations. If approved by Parliament, the proscriptions will take effect on the day after my right honourable friend the Home Secretary signs the order. To assist consideration by both Houses, we 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.