The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the relistings of Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Islamic State in Libya (IS-Libya) and Islamic State Sinai Province (IS-Sinai) as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995(the Criminal Code).
The Australian Government first listed AQAP as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code on 26 November 2010 and first listed AQIS, IS-Sinai and IS-Libya with effect from 29 November 2016.
AQAP was formed in 2009 and is a religiously motivated violent extremist group that is officially recognised by al-Qa'ida. While it is based in Yemen, and attacks are primarily focused on Yemeni targets, AQAP has also conducted attacks on Saudi Arabian targets as well as attempted attacks within the US and against US interests.
AQIS was founded in Pakistan in 2014, it is an al-Qa'ida-affiliated religiously motivated violent extremist organisation that has historically undertaken attacks against Pakistani military and security personnel, as well as against citizens in Bangladesh. They have also advocated attacks against India.
IS-Libya formed in Libya in 2014 by local returnees who had returned from Syria, IS-Libya is an officially recognised IS affiliate that promotes IS's extreme global jihadist ideology. Its attacks have focused on a wide range of targets in North Africa.
IS-Sinai is based in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It is also a religiously motivated violent extremist group which first pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2014. It seeks to overthrow the Egyptian government in an effort to establish an extremist Islamic state in Egypt.
The relisting of these four organisations, made by regulations tabled in Parliament this week, triggers the continued application of a number of offences under the Criminal Code relating to membership of, support for or associating with the organisations.
Under section 102.1A of the Criminal Code, the Committee may review listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to each house of the Parliament within the 15 sitting day disallowance period for the regulations.
Members of the public are welcome to make submissions to this review. Submissions should be provided no later than 5pm Tuesday, 31 January 2023.
Further information on the inquiry can be obtained from the Committee's website.
