Review of re-listing of five organisations as terrorist organisations under Criminal Code

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has commenced a review of the re-listing of five organisations as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code).

The organisations are:

• Al-Shabaab – an officially recognised affiliate of al-Qa'ida based in Somalia, this group's primary objective is to establish an Islamist state in the Horn of Africa under Sharia law. It follows al-Qa'ida's anti-Western violent jihadist narrative and currently controls territory in southern Somalia.
• Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – founded in 1991 as the paramilitary wing of Hamas, this group fuses Sunni Islamist and Palestinian nationalist objectives. Its goals are the establishment of an independent Palestinian state comprising of Gaza, the West Bank and Israel and the destruction of Israel as a political entity.
• The Kurdistan Workers' Party – a nationalist and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary organisation based around Kurdish ethnic identity, this group's primary targets are the Turkish government and security forces but it has also attacked the interests of other rival political parties.
• Lashkar-e-Tayyiba – a Pakistani-based Sunni violent extremist organisation, this group's stated objective is uniting Indian administered Kashmir with Pakistan under Islamic law and, more broadly, the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate across the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most active terrorist groups in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad – a religiously and ideologically motivated violent extremist organisation, this Palestinian nationalist and Sunni Islamic group seeks the military destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state within the historical borders of Palestine. It rejects the two-state solution.

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.

Members of the public are welcome to make submissions to this review. Submissions should be provided no later than 5pm Friday, 20 August 2020.