News
UK ban on LTTE stays; pro-Eelam group’s appeal fails
View(s):The UK Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission on Friday rejected an appeal by the TGTE (Transitional Government of Tamil Eelam) to lift the proscription on the LTTE in Britain as a terrorist organisation.
The Commission gave its ruling on Friday in an appeal by Arumugam and Others vs. the Secretary of State for the Home Department.
The TGTE argued it is not proscribed in the United Kingdom as it seeks to pursue its political and ideological objectives through non-violent means.
The TGTE supports the creation of an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka’s north-east.
However, the Government of Sri Lanka (“GoSL”) took a different view of the TGTE’s methods, the ruling notes.
On March 29, 2001, the UK Secretary of State added the LTTE to the list of proscribed organisations in Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2001.
There have been previous attempts to de-proscribe the LTTE. On December 7, 2018, the TGTE applied to the Home Department for the LTTE to be removed from Schedule 2 pursuant to Section 4 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Following a review process that entailed the commissioning of assessments by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, the UK’s Centre for the Analysis and Assessment of Domestic and International Terrorism Threats, the Secretary of State refused the application on March 8, 2019.
On October 21, 2020, the Appeals Commission allowed the appellants’ appeal. Following this, by an order dated May 13, 2021, TGTE was required to provide further representations on its application for de-proscription by June 3, 2021, and required the Secretary of State to take her decision on the application to de-proscribe by no later than August 31, 2021.
Following the handing down of the judgment on relief, the Secretary of State took a new decision to maintain the ban on the LTTE, and the decision was notified to the TGTE on August 31, 2021.
The TGTE lodged an appeal against that decision on October 12, 2021. Thereafter, another group made an application for de-proscription and that too was refused by the Secretary of State.
The grounds of appeal were that the LTTE is no longer an organisation capable of prescription; there were no reasonable grounds for the Secretary of State to have formed the belief that the LTTE is currently “concerned in terrorism”; the Secretary of State erred in the exercise of her discretion to maintain the proscription; and the continued proscription of the LTTE is not necessary, justified, or proportionate interference with the TGTE’s rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.
The Appeals Commission dismissed the appeal and ordered the proscription of the LTTE in the UK to continue.
Peter Haynes KC and Shanthi Sivakumaran (instructed by the Public Law Interest Centre) appeared on behalf of the appellants.
Ben Watson KC, Andrew Deakin and Will Hays (instructed by the Government Legal Department) appeared on behalf of the Secretary of State. Tom Forster KC and Rachel Toney (supported by the Special Advocates’ Support Office) appeared as Special Advocates.
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