Home Secretary announces Hizb ut-Tahrir to be proscribed

The Home Secretary, James Cleverly, has announced that the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir is to be proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, following calls to do so by Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Islamist party which is actively operating in over 40 countries worldwide. It has been banned in a number of countries and is particularly active in the UK.

There have previously been considerations as to whether Hizb ut-Tahrir should be proscribed. Concerns were raised on those occasions in light of the fact that Hizb ut-Tahrir presents itself as a non-violent party (although members have been linked to violent acts in multiple countries).

On 17th October 2023 Hizb ut-Tahrir published on its website a call to the public to attend a national demonstration on 21st October 2023 at both the Egyptian Embassy and the Turkish Embassy.

The call-to-demonstrate post specified that the demonstrations were “in light of the heroic feats carried out by the heroic Mujahideen in the Blessed Land – Palestine under the slogan Al-Aqsa Flood against the usurping Jewish entity…” a reference to the Hamas attack of 7th October.

The post went on to clarify that the demonstration was organised “to call on the Muslim armies to break the shackles that the Ruwaibidah rulers have placed on them in their barracks and move immediately to trample the traitorous rulers and give victory to the Mujahideen in the Blessed Land – Palestine and liberate the blessed Masjid Al-Aqsa from the clutches of the occupying Jews”.

These published statements were explicit calls for serious violence.

Although Campaign Against Antisemitism immediately brought this information to the attention of the Metropolitan Police Service, no action was taken and the demonstrations proceeded. In view of this failure by the Met to act, we wrote to the then-Home Secretary calling for a proscription.

We also polled the Jewish community, 90% of which believes that the British Government should proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir.

We are pleased that the Government has listened and is proscribing the organisation.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “When we discovered that Hizb ut-Tahrir had appeared to praise the Hamas attack of 7th October, we wrote to the Metropolitan Police Service to prevent the group from holding its demonstrations on the streets of London. The Met took no action and the rallies went ahead, in which there were calls for the armies of Muhammed to wage Jihad. Still, the Met refused to take action, making excuses to defend this rhetoric instead.

“We therefore wrote to the Home Secretary calling for the controversial Islamist group to be proscribed. Our polling of the Jewish community showed overwhelming support for this policy change.

“We commend James Cleverly for this significant announcement. It is absolutely the right step, and shows that the Government is listening. The Met should take note.”