Guardian: Two extremist groups – UK-based Minbar Ansar Deen and Nigeria-based Boko Haram – are to be proscribed in the UK under terrorism laws, making membership and support for them a criminal offence.
The home secretary, Theresa May, is to lay an order which, if approved by parliament, will ban both of the organisations from operating in the UK from midnight on Friday morning.
Minbar Ansar Deen – also known as Ansar al-Sharia UK – promotes terrorism by distributing content through its online forum, which encourages individuals to travel overseas to engage in extremist activity, specifically fighting, the Home Office said.
The government said banning Boko Haram, which aspires to establish Islamic law in Nigeria, would prevent the group from operating in the UK and give the police powers to tackle any UK-based support for the group.
Decisions to proscribe the organisations are understood to be unrelated to the murder of the soldier Drummer Lee Rigby near Woolwich barracks in south-east London in May.
Categories: Europe