Britain wants to ban the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir

The British government plans to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international Islamic political group, by designating it as a terrorist organization. The government made the announcement Monday, citing what it said was the group's praise for the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Britain's Home Office announced the plan in a statement, saying the new designation would mean “belonging to, inviting support for and displaying articles in a public place in a way that raises suspicion of membership or support for the group will be a criminal offence. ”

Parliament is expected to debate and vote on the measure this week. If approved, it would come into effect on Friday.

James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said in a statement on Monday: “Hizb ut-Tahrir is an anti-Semitic organization that actively promotes and encourages terrorism, including praising and celebrating the abhorrent attacks of October 7.”

The British branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir said the attempt to ban this measure was “a desperate measure to censor the debate on the genocide in Palestine and stop the just political alternative of Islam”, and that it rejected the measure would contest with all legal means.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, a Sunni Islamist organization founded in 1953 and headquartered in Lebanon, has long been active – and controversial – in Britain. It calls for one Islamic government across the Muslim world and has previously celebrated violence against Israel.

Previous British governments suggested banning the group, but did not. Prime Minister Tony Blair said in 2005, amid the crackdown on extremism following coordinated suicide bombings in London on July 7 that year, that he would ban it, as did Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. (Mr. Cameron is currently the British Foreign Secretary.).

But a government watchdog on terrorism legislation and rights groups warned against these measures in 2011, arguing, among other things, that Hizb-ut-Tahrir was not violent in Britain under the legal parameters at the time, and they were dropped.

In October, a video emerged of a demonstration organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, alongside a much larger peaceful protest, in which a man repeatedly calls for “jihad”, sparking criticism of the group.

Tom Tugendhat, Britain's security minister, said the group's “celebration of Hamas' abhorrent attacks on Israel, going so far as to call the terrorists who raped and murdered Israeli civilians 'heroes', is shameful.”