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Written Question
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Wednesday 19th October 2022

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the current protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, if the Government will take steps to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

Whilst the UK Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.

The death of Mahsa Amini is a shocking reminder of the repression faced by women in Iran. The UK condemns the Iranian authorities’ crackdown on protestors, journalists and internet freedom. The use of violence in response to the expression of fundamental rights, by women or any other members of Iranian society, is wholly unjustifiable.

On the 10th October, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced sanctions on senior security and political figures in Iran and the Morality Police. The Morality Police has been sanctioned in its entirety, as well as both its chief, Mohammed Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi and the Head of the Tehran Division Haj Ahmed Mirzaei. Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Basij force, who is responsible for internal security in Iran has also been subject to sanctions for committing serious human rights violations.


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations: Social Media
Friday 3rd July 2020

Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she last met with representatives of (a) Facebook, (b) YouTube, (c) Twitter, (d) Telegram, (e) FourChan, (f) WhatsApp, (g) Instagram, (h) TikTok, and (i) Gab to discuss the steps those organisations are taking to (i) combat extremist material, (ii) remove material from proscribed organisations and (iii) remove other material linked to criminal activity in the UK from their platforms.

Answered by James Brokenshire

The Government has been clear that tech companies need to work together and act more quickly to remove all forms of terrorist content from their platforms.

We know that terrorists and extremists exploit a wide range of platforms to spread their views and to incite terrorist attacks, from mainstream platforms to secure messaging applications and anonymous forums.

To tackle terrorism online, the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), based in the Metropolitan Police, refers illegal terrorist content to companies for removal. Within the Home Office, we work closely with our international partners and engage with industry colleagues to discuss how platforms can best safeguard their users from terrorism, while also encouraging tech companies work together as one coordinated body through the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), to reduce the availability of terrorist content online.

Details of meetings between Ministers and external bodies and organisations are provided through the usual quarterly returns published by the Cabinet Office.


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations: Internet
Thursday 29th November 2018

Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the responsibility of social media and internet companies to proactively search for content promoting or originating from proscribed organisations.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Home Office Ministers have regular meetings as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations: Internet
Thursday 23rd November 2017

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many websites for (a) Scottish Dawn, (b) NS131 and (c) National Action have been removed since those organisations were proscribed.

Answered by Ben Wallace

The Police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) refers content that they assess as contravening UK terrorism legislation and companies terms and conditions to Communications Service Providers (CSPs). This includes content of proscribed UK organisations such as National Action and its aliases.

If CSPs agree that it breaches their terms and conditions they remove it voluntarily. Following the proscription of National Action in December 2016, HMG requested CSPs to remove and restrict access to National Action content.


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations: Internet
Thursday 23rd November 2017

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for how long websites for (a) Scottish Dawn, (b) NS131 and (c) National Action remained live after those organisations were proscribed.

Answered by Ben Wallace

The Police Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) refers content that they assess as contravening UK terrorism legislation and companies terms and conditions to Communications Service Providers (CSPs). This includes content of proscribed UK organisations such as National Action and its aliases.

If CSPs agree that it breaches their terms and conditions they remove it voluntarily. Following the proscription of National Action in December 2016, HMG requested CSPs to remove and restrict access to National Action content.


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations: Internet
Wednesday 1st November 2017

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he is taking to prevent the online sale of merchandise promoting (a) the IRA and (b) other terrorist groups.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The UK Government is at the forefront of the battle against online extremist and terrorist material. The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) will continue to work in partnership with a range of companies to secure the removal of terrorist content. Since 2010, the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has secured the removal of over 290,000 pieces of terrorist material, and developed strong relationships with around 300 companies.


Written Question
Terrorism
Friday 22nd September 2017

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) pieces of unlawful terrorist material have been taken off the internet, (b) hate preachers have been excluded from the UK, (c) organisations have been proscribed in the UK, (d) British citizenships have been revoked and (e) passports removed for terrorism-related reasons since May 2015; and how many arrests the police have made for terrorism-related offences since May 2015.

Answered by Ben Wallace

Following referrals from the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), social media providers have removed 280,000 pieces of illegal terrorist material since February 2010. Between 11 May 2010 and 31 December 2015, the Government excluded 181 people from the United Kingdom, including 69 exclusions on national security grounds.

There were 26 exclusions made between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015. 71 international terrorist organisations and a further 14 in Northern Ireland, have been proscribed. The Government Transparency Report, published on 23 February 2017, showed that the Royal Prerogative had been used to cancel or refuse applications for passports 23 times in 2015. Figures are not yet available for 2016. From March 2015 to March 2017 there have been 562 arrests for terrorism related offences.


Written Question
Terrorism
Wednesday 18th March 2015

Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pieces of unlawful terrorist material have been taken off the internet since 2010; how many hate preachers have been excluded from the UK since 2010; how many organisations have been proscribed in the UK since 2010; how many (a) British citizenships have been revoked and (b) passports have been removed for terrorism-related reasons since 2010; and how many arrests the police have made for terrorism-related offences since 2010.

Answered by James Brokenshire

The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit has secured the removal of more than 75,000 pieces of terrorist-related content since 2010.


Since January 2010, 91 hate preachers have been excluded from the UK. Since May 2010, this Government have excluded 88 hate preachers from the UK. The Home
Secretary has the power to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy or public security grounds. Coming to the UK is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who seek to subvert our shared values.


19 organisations have been proscribed since May 2010.


Since 2010 there have been 28 deprivation decisions taken on the basis that such action would be ‘conducive to the public good.


On 25 April 2013, the Government redefined the public interest criteria to refuse or withdraw a passport in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament. Since the Secretary of State’s statement in April 2013, the Royal Prerogative was used 6 times in 2013 and 24 times in 2014. The Royal Prerogative was not exercised on these grounds in the period 2010-2012.


Since (April) 2010, over 800 people have been arrested for terrorism-related offences. Of these more than 220 have been charged and over 150 successfully prosecuted.


Written Question
Islamic State
Tuesday 9th December 2014

Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he plans to take to address the threat of IS to the UK.

Answered by James Brokenshire

JTAC raised the threat level on 29 August from SUBSTANTIAL to SEVERE. The increase in the threat level is related to developments in Syria and Iraq where terrorist groups, including ISIL, are planning attacks against the West. ISIL
is a clear national threat to the UK, as it is a global threat to our international partners and the region. We believe that more than 500 individuals from the UK have travelled to Syria since the start of the conflict. It is estimated half of these have returned. We judge that a significant minority of UK extremists currently fighting in Syria are affiliated with ISIL. British citizens fighting with proscribed terrorist organisations would clearly pose a threat to the UK should they return. Such
individuals are among our primary counter-terrorism concerns.

The Government is taking steps to counter this unprecedented threat. On Wednesday 26 November, we introduced the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, in order to extend the powers available to our law enforcement and intelligence
agencies. This Bill will ensure that we can: disrupt the ability of people to travel abroad to fight, as well as their ability to return here; enhance our ability to monitor and control the actions of those in the UK that pose a threat; and combat the underlying ideology that feeds, supports and sanctions terrorism. It includes provisions to:

The powers set out in the Bill are essential to keep up with the very serious and rapidly changing threats we face.

This legislation will provide additional tools to compliment work already underway to tackle the threat from ISIL under a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism led strategy.

We must take action at home – but we must also have a comprehensive strategy to defeat these extremists abroad. This involves using all the resources at our disposal – humanitarian efforts, which Britain is already leading, to help
those displaced by ISIL’s onslaught, and diplomatic efforts to engage the widest possible coalition of countries in the region as part of this international effort. At the UN, we are leading the process of condemning
ISIL, disrupting the flows of finance to ISIL and forging a global consensus about preventing the movement of foreign fighters.

This strategy also involves political efforts to support the creation of a new and genuinely inclusive government in Iraq and to bring about a transition of power in Syria that can lead to a new representative and accountable government
that can take the fight to ISIL.

We are determined to defeat the ideology of all forms of extremism, not just violent extremism. So we are banning preachers of hate, proscribing organisations that incite terrorism and stopping people from inciting hatred in
our schools, universities and even our prisons. For those individuals who are at risk of radicalisation, agencies such as the police and local authorities work together to assess the nature and the extent of the risk and, where
necessary, provide an appropriate support package tailored to individual needs. And we are working with industry to remove more extremist online material than ever before to protect those British young people vulnerable to becoming
radicalised. Since the start of this government, the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit has secured the removal of 65,000 items from the internet that encouraged or glorified acts of terrorism. More than 46,000 of these have been
removed since December last year. At present, content relating to ISIL, Syria and Iraq represents around seventy per cent of the Unit’s caseload.


Written Question
Proscribed Organisations: Internet
Thursday 10th April 2014

Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2014, Official Report, columns 615-6W, on proceeds of crime, whether the requests for repatriation of assets arose from charges against public officials suspected of corruption offences or wider criminal charges.

Answered by Karen Bradley

It is the usual policy to neither confirm nor deny the existence, content or status of any individual requests to repatriate assets.