Terrorism

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by a convicted terrorist who was sentenced to a 22-year minimum life sentence after killing a prison officer in a car bombing. The court found that killing a prison officer warranted a lengthy sentence, and the appellant’s alleged

Lisa Smith, a former member of the Defence Forces, has become the first person in the State to be convicted of membership of terror group Islamic State (IS). After a nine-week trial in the non-jury Special Criminal Court, Ms Smith was convicted of membership of an unlawful organisation and acquitted

Northern Ireland’s High Court has rejected an application for judicial review where it was argued that terrorism offences committed in the Republic of Ireland required special permission to be pursued in Northern Ireland. The applicant also lost in his claim that the Director of Public Prosecu

New EU rules requiring online platforms to remove "terrorist content" within an hour of receiving a removal order from state authorities have come into force. The Terrorist Content Online Regulation, which applies as of 7 June 2022, aims to "counter the spread of extremist ideologies online" by intr

Officials have begun a scoping exercise ahead of a review of legislation underpinning the prosecution of terrorism and organised crime offences in the non-jury Special Criminal Court. Justice Minister Helen McEntee yesterday told Senators that she is "fully committed to this review", which was one o

Violent right-wing extremism is "growing" in Ireland, a major Europol report on terrorism in the EU has noted for the first time. The European agency's latest EU Terrorism Situation and Trend (TE-SAT) report said Ireland was among EU member states reporting violent right-wing activities in 2019.

People suspected of terrorism offences would face minimum jail terms of 14 years under proposed legislation. Under the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill, introduced to Parliament today, the standard of proof for terrorism prevention and investigation measures (Tpims) imposed on individuals who a

A six-and-a-half year prison sentence for a loyalist killer who became a "supergrass" after his arrest has been found unduly lenient by the Court of Appeal. However, UVF man Gary Haggarty will not return to prison as he was released and placed in a witness protection programme in May 2018, according

Hashem Abedi, 22, the younger brother of suicide bomber Salman Abedi, has been found guilty of murdering 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in 2017. Murder carries an automatic life sentence with offenders having to serve a minimum prison term before they can apply to the Paro

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been warned that plans to extend jail terms for terrorists could make them more dangerous upon release, The Times reports. Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said inmates could be exposed to “worse influences” in prison t

Legislative proposals to end the early release of people convicted of terror offences will not be extended to Northern Ireland. The Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Bill, introduced in response to a terror incident in Streatham earlier this month, was approved by MPs yesterday.

Legislation making it a criminal offence to travel abroad to join a terrorist group has not moved beyond the preliminary stage over a year after an EU deadline, according to reports. The Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill aims to give effect to EU Directive 2017/541 on combating terrorism an

A recent crackdown on paramilitarism in Northern Ireland is being held back by stalled reforms to the committal process, the Independent Reporting Commission (IRC) has warned. The collapse of Stormont has put plans to phase out the committal process on hold, leading to longer criminal cases, accordi

The UK and the US have signed a bilateral agreement allowing their respective law enforcement agencies to directly demand electronic data relating to serious crime from tech companies in the other jurisdiction. The world-first UK-US Bilateral Data Access Agreement was signed by Home Secretary Priti

Lord Carlile has been appointed to lead an independent review of the controversial Prevent counter-terrorism programme. The barrister and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has promised to conduct a "strongly evidence-based" review of the scheme, which has drawn criticism from trad