licking On Terrorist Propaganda Even Once Could Mean 15 Years In Prison

Anyone who views terrorist propaganda once online can be jailed for up to 15 years under new laws that have sparked human rights concerns. MPs had urged the government to scrap plans to criminalise viewing “information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”, which goes further than much-used laws that made physically collecting, downloading or disseminating the material illegal. A United Nations inspector accused the government of straying towards “thought crime” with the proposal, which originally stated that people would have to access propaganda “on three or more different occasions” to commit a terror offence. But the benchmark was removed from the draft law, meaning a single click is now illegal.

Security officials have told The Independent that discretion will be exercised and the law will help prosecute extremists in cases where other offences cannot be proven, or to prevent radicalization. A report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights said the offence “is a breach of the right to receive information and risks criminalising legitimate research and curiosity”.

The new law was introduced as part of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which received royal assent this week. Max Hill QC, the former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and current Director of Public Prosecutions, told the committee he found lengthy prison sentences “difficult to countenance when nothing is to be done with the material” last year.

Read more: Lizzie Dearden, Independent, https://is.gd/SqWaei