Judgment Approved by the court for handing down.
Miranda v SSHD
public and (iv) the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political,
religious, racial or ideological cause.
40.
Laws LJ accepted that the definition of terrorism in section 1 is very broad. But after
referring to the Supreme Court’s concern at the potential breadth of the definition of
terrorism in the case of R v Gul [2014] AC 1260, [2013] UKSC 64, he said at para 29:
“With great respect, the bare proposition that the definition of
terrorism in section 1 is very wide or far reaching does not of
itself instruct us very deeply in the proper use of Schedule 7.
There are however particular aspects which seem to me to be
important for the ascertainment of the reach of the Schedule.
First, section 1 does not create a criminal offence. The Act
creates a separate regime of criminal offences: section 54 ff.
That being so, we should not assume that foundational concepts
of the criminal law, such as intention and recklessness, are to
be read into provisions such as section 1(2)(c) (“endangers a
person’s life”) or 1(2)(d) (“creates a serious risk to the health or
safety of the public”). Section 1(2) is concerned only to define
the categories of “action” whose use or threat may constitute
terrorism: not to impose any accompanying mental element.
Similarly, the expression “concerned in” in section 40(1)(b) is
not to be taken to import the criteria for guilt as a secondary
party which the criminal law requires in a case of joint
enterprise”.
41.
At para 33, he accepted the submission of Mr Kovats QC that:
“the section 1 definition is ‘capable of covering the publication
or threatened publication [for the purpose of advancing a
political, religious, racial or ideological cause] of stolen
classified information which, if published, would reveal
personal details of members of the armed forces or security and
intelligence agencies, thereby endangering their lives, where
that publication or threatened publication is designed to
influence government policy on the activities of the security
and intelligence agencies’: section 1(1)(b) and (c), and (2)(c).”
42.
At para 35, he said:
“The Article 19 Interveners also submit (paragraph 39) that ‘a
reading of section 40(1)(b) which permits the type of activity
carried out by [the claimant] to fall within the definition [set
out in the subsection] is overbroad and inconsistent with wellrecognised international principles that media reporting on
terrorism ought not to be considered equivalent to assisting
terrorists”. They cite a number of materials, including a
declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe adopted in 2005, calling upon Member States to
“refrain from adopting measures equating media reporting on
terrorism with support for terrorism”. This mischaracterises the
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