UK IRGC 'terrorist' label risks placing ally forces under same title

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Independent
12 Jan 2023 20:21

A British independent expert on terrorism legislation warns UK Home Secretary against labeling the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (AFP)

A UK expert on terrorism laws warned that if the British government moves forward with designating Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as a "terrorist" organization will risk applying the same scope to allies' armed forces that must have engaged in terrorist acts "some or all of the time."

Earlier this week, media outlets reported that the UK is considering designating Iran’s IRGC a "terrorist" group under the country's Terrorism Act, which would be the first state body targeted under this legislation.

According to The Telegraph, British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Home Secretary Suella Braverman are advocating for the decision.

The designation would mean it would become a crime to belong to the IRGC, attend its meetings, and support it or even carry its logo.

British news outlet The Independent published a report on Thursday citing Jonathan Hall KC, an Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, stressing that officially declaring the IRGC a "terrorist" organization would have serious long-term repercussions.

Hall, who also opposes Iran's military group, argues that “proscribing a state entity under the Terrorism Act 2000 would depart from consistent and decades-long UK policy, and calls into question the definition of terrorism which, to date, has proven practical and effective.”

“If state forces are capable of being ‘concerned in terrorism’, the question of how the definition of terrorism applies to other state forces will have to be addressed, at risk of upsetting the settled meaning of terrorism in domestic law,” he said.

The US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have already designated the military force as a "terrorist" group.

MI5 Director General, Ken McCallum, claimed last November that there were terrorist activities allegedly planned by the group. “Iran projects threat to the UK directly, through its aggressive intelligence services. At its sharpest, this includes ambitions to kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime," he said.

"We have seen at least ten such potential threats since January alone," McCallum added.

Hall added that the UK formally bans terrorist groups based on the nature of their acts and the threat they pose to the country and its citizens abroad.

However, he warned, if British Home Secretary Suella Braverman designates the IRGC a "terrorist" organization, then this would also reflect on how the UK views allied forces that must have carried out acts of terrorism at some point.

"The logic would be that all state forces, including those of allies, must also ‘be concerned in terrorism’ some or all of the time."

The expert stressed that “it is one thing to characterise paramilitaries and individuals who would subvert the state through violence as terrorists; but quite another to apply the word terrorist to state bodies who conventionally are considered to enjoy a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence.”

The United States claimed in 2019 when it labeled the IRGC a "terrorist" group that the Iranian government's “use of terrorism as a tool of statecraft makes it fundamentally different from any other government”.

Hall argued, however, that Britain's legal definition of terrorism does not make a distinction between justified or unjustified violence, or different killing methods such as during warfare, assassinations, or politically-driven targeting.

Commenting on reports that the UK is planning on designating the IRGC as a "terrorist" organization, a government spokesperson said, “While the Government keeps the list of proscribed organizations under review, we do not comment on whether a specific organization is or is not being considered for proscription.”