Terrorist group

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A terrorist organization ( German legal term since 1976) or terrorist organization ( United Nations , European Union ) is a long-term organization of several people ( terrorists ) who want to create horrors ( Latin terror ) through serious crimes and in this way try to achieve their goals. The formation of terrorist organizations is a criminal offense in Germany and many other countries.

definition

The term “terror” and the term “terrorist organization” based on it are controversial and, despite several attempts, no cross-national definition has been found so far. Richard Reeve Baxter , former judge at the International Court of Justice , made the following comments

We have cause to regret that a legal concept of terrorism was ever inflicted upon us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and, above all, it serves no operational legal purpose.

“We have reason to regret that a legal term terrorism was ever imposed on us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and, above all, it does not serve any decisive legal purpose. "

For example, there is a different definition of terror for almost every state , and in the USA there are also different definitions of the individual authorities. In 1988 there were already 109 different definitions of the word "terror" and this number is likely to have increased further , especially after September 11, 2001 .

Criminal offenses

Offenses can include crimes such as murder , manslaughter , hostage-taking , extortionate kidnapping or even genocide . Furthermore, publicly dangerous activities such as arson , dangerous interference in rail, ship or air traffic, piracy on water or in the air, mass poisoning, causing life-threatening floods, explosive or radiation crimes or the disruption of public operations can be the subject of the community or of a Be the leader or a cadre of planned terrorist activities.

Motives and goals

The motives of terrorist organizations can have a political, religious or social background. Terrorist acts are aimed at causing serious or long-lasting disruption to public life or dramatic damage to economic life. They are committed with the intent to either intimidate the population through significant shock and / or states , government agencies or international organizations (such as the United Nations or the European Union ) to an action , toleration or omission to necessary or political, constitutional, to permanently shake or destroy the basic economic or social structures of a state or international organizations.

Law and observation

Germany

Definition and difference to the criminal organization

According to the definition of the constitution protection authorities, terrorism is the sustained struggle for political goals that are to be achieved with the help of attacks on the life, limb and property of other people, in particular through serious criminal offenses, as mentioned in Section 129a (1) of the Criminal Code , or by other offenses in preparation for such offenses.

The terrorist organization differs from the criminal organization not only in the seriousness of the criminal offenses and the related penalties (see formation of terrorist organizations according to § 129a StGB), but also in that it also pursues ideological goals.

Observation and tracking

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution tries to obtain information about extremist groups or associations that operate underground . Several states and international organizations such as the EU or the UN also keep and publish lists of terrorist organizations . These registers give the national law enforcement authorities pointers for initiating (possibly preventive) measures. The following groups are classified as a terrorist organization by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the 2005 report on the Protection of the Constitution:

Austria

In Austria, criminal associations including the threat of punishment for up to three years are defined in Section 278 of the Criminal Code and corporate-like criminal organizations with up to five years imprisonment are regulated separately in Section 278a of the Criminal Code .

Sentence

In Austria , Section 278c of the Criminal Code regulates terrorist offenses. The sentence for individual offenses is increased by half, but to a maximum of twenty years. Section 278d StGB also provides penalties for terrorist financing. An act is not considered a terrorist offense in Austria if it is aimed at establishing or restoring democratic and constitutional conditions or the exercise or protection of human rights ( Section 278c (3) of the Criminal Code).

List of the EU Council of Ministers

The list of persons, associations and organizations that were involved in acts of terrorism and should be subject to restrictive measures, also for short EU terrorist list , is, in the opinion of the EU Council of Ministers , a restrictive measure to combat terrorism , which is directed against certain persons and organizations . Some of the groups mentioned have complained about their classification to the European Court of Justice . The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) criticizes that incisive and stigmatizing measures are imposed on individuals on the basis of indefinite assumptions and in serious violation of elementary principles of the rule of law, before any behavior relevant to criminal law exists.

In the version of August 4, 2017, this list, which is updated approximately every six months, included 13 individuals and the following 21 organizations:

  1. Abu Nidal Organization (ANO, also Fatah Revolutionary Council, Arab Revolutionary Brigades, Black September or Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims) - militant split from the PLO
  2. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - Fatah- affiliated Palestinian organization
  3. al-Aqsa
  4. Babbar Khalsa - militant Sikhist organization of Indian origin
  5. Communist Party of the Philippines including the New People's Army - Filipino Communist Party including its guerrilla organization
  6. Gamaa Islamija (Islamic Group, IG) - militant Egyptian Islamist movement
  7. İslami Büyük Doğu Akıncılar Cephesi (Front islamique des combattants du Grand Orient, IBDA-C) - Turkish militant Islamic organization
  8. Hamas (including Hamas-Izz and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades )
  9. Hizballah Military Wing - Hezbollah's military wing in Lebanon
  10. Hezbollah Mujahideen (HM) - Pakistani militant group in Kashmir
  11. Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Sikh militant organization in India
  12. Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, alias "KADEK", alias "KONGRA-GEL") - Kurdish, socialist, militant underground organization
  13. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - military organization in Sri Lanka
  14. Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army, ELN) - Colombian, Marxist-oriented guerrilla movement
  15. Islamic Jihad ( Palestinian Islamic Jihad , PIJ) - Palestinian militant group
  16. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - Marxist-Leninist, militant Palestinian organization
  17. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) - Split of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
  18. Devrimci Halk Kurtuluş Partisi / Cephesi (DHKP-C, Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front) - militant Marxist-Leninist organization in Turkey
  19. Sendero Luminoso (SL, Shining Path) - Marxist-Leninist and Maoist party and organization in Peru
  20. Teyrêbazên Azadîya Kurdistan (TAK, Freedom Falcon Kurdistan) - Kurdish urban guerrilla in Turkey

The left-wing guerrilla movement Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Army of Colombia, FARC) was removed from the list with effect from November 14, 2017.

Switzerland

With the exception of al-Qaida and the Islamic State, no other organizations as such are banned in Switzerland, making it one of the few countries that maintains diplomatic contacts with organizations such as Hamas . The Federal Council has the Al-Qaeda in November 2001, based on Art. 184 and Art. 185 of the Swiss Federal Constitution prohibited. Islamic State was added to the list of prohibited terrorist groups in 2014.

State Department list

The Foreign Terrorist Organization list includes:

Since 1997:

Since 1999:

Since 2000:

Since 2001:

Since 2002:

Since 2003:

Since 2004:

Since 2005:

Since 2008:

Since 2009:

Since 2010:

Since 2011:

Since 2012:

Since 2013:

Since 2014:

Since 2015:

Since 2016:

Since 2019:

List of United Arab Emirates

As defined by the UN

So far (as of July 2006) the United Nations has not issued a general list of terrorist organizations. However, it was on based Chapter VII of the UN Charter , the resolution adopted no. 1267 and a follow-resolution, Member States committed against individuals or organizations associated with al-Qaida or the Taliban to impose sanctions. These include the ban on the delivery of armaments, a ban on entry and transit and the prohibition of financial campaigns. To this end, the UN has issued a list of the persons and groups affected.

The following is an incomplete list of just a few of the more well-known groups on this list:

Criticism of anti-terror lists

Dick Marty , the rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, criticized the fact that Youssef Nada was put on the anti-terror list. Nada is suspected by the CIA of being one of the financiers of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The entry ruined his business. The four-year investigation by the Swiss judiciary, which was requested by the person concerned himself, did not reveal any suspicions.

Several European lawyers and parliamentarians see the procedure for the revision of the EU terror list in July 2008 as a violation of the rule of law. On October 24, 2008, the Council of Ministers for the EU Terrorism List received the Big Brother Award 2008 in the Europe / EU category.

literature

  • Philipp H. Schulte: Terrorism and anti-terrorism legislation - a legal sociological analysis , Waxmann-Verlag, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8309-1982-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ben Golder, George Williams: What is 'terrorism'? Problems of legal definition . In: UNSW Law Journal . tape 27 (2) , 2004, pp. 270–295 ( archive. PDF ).
  2. ^ Sarah E. Smith: International Law: Blaming Big Brother: Holding States Accountable for the Devastation of Terrorism . In: Oklahoma law review . tape 56 , no. 3 , 2003, p. 735–775 (English, archive.org ).
  3. ↑ a b Verfassungsschutz Report 2005. (PDF; 3.96 MB) In: verfassungsschutz.de. 2006, archived from the original on April 23, 2009 ; accessed on December 30, 2019 .
  4. ^ BGH: “Freikorps Havelland” is a terrorist organization. In: Decision -3StR263 / 05-. Federal Court of Justice, January 10, 2006, accessed on March 3, 2016 : “The Brandenburg Higher Regional Court has classified the group as a terrorist organization. [...] The Federal Court of Justice has confirmed the classification of the group as a terrorist organization and dismissed the appeal [...] by decision of January 10, 2006 as obviously unfounded. "
  5. ↑ Anja Maier: Right Roll Command with Secretary - taz.de. In: taz.de. August 20, 2004, accessed December 30, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Small question: Distinction between the military and political wing of Hezbollah. (PDF; 116.59 kB) Printed matter 19/3088. In: dipbt.bundestag.de. June 29, 2018, accessed December 30, 2019 .
  7. ^ EU terrorist list - Consilium. In: consilium.europa.eu. Accessed December 30, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Rolf Gössner: Existence destruction by arbitrary act. In: heise.de. May 3, 2007, accessed December 30, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Julia Prosinger: Background: The EU terrorism lists . (PDF; 133.39 kB) In: ecchr.eu. May 6, 2010, accessed December 30, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Decision (CFSP) 2017/1426 of the Council of 4 August 2017 updating the list of persons, groups and entities for which Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Common Position 2001/931 / CFSP on the application of specific measures to combat of terrorism apply, and on the repeal of Decision (CFSP) 2017/154 , accessed on 23 August 2017
  11. ↑ EU removes Colombia's FARC from terrorist list - news.ORF.at. In: orf.at. Accessed December 30, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b Answer of the Federal Council to Filippo Leutenegger's question 06.1018 - Middle East engagement of the federal government. Dangerous Help? . Curia Vista - Business Database - The Federal Assembly - The Swiss Parliament. May 31, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ Foreign Terrorist Organizations - United States Department of State. In: state.gov. Accessed December 30, 2019 .
  15. ↑ USA declares Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. In: Israelnetz .de. April 9, 2019, accessed April 29, 2019 .
  16. ↑ un.org: UN list of individuals and organizations closely related to the Taliban or al-Qaeda , November 27, 2012
  17. ↑ heise-online: Critique of UN and EU anti-terror lists , November 11, 2007
  18. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Schlamp: EU competence farce: Agriculture ministers approve list of terror suspects. SPIEGEL ONLINE GmbH, September 19, 2008, accessed on April 1, 2016 (German): “ The proceedings with which the Iranian opposition exiles were suspected of terrorism is legally completely untenable, according to several judgments. It deprives those affected of any opportunity to defend themselves, and this violates a fundamental right. But unmoved, the unsuspecting agricultural experts confirmed the mujahideen 's entry on the updated list. Prominent judges, lawyers and law professors from many countries decided that this was a gross 'violation of the rule of law'. […] Professor Antonio Cassese is one of them. He was President of the Yugoslavia Tribunal of the UN, for example, also head of the international commission of inquiry into the genocide in the Sudan province of Darfur, so a globally respected lawyer. How the EU deals with the People's Mujahedeen, says Cassese, violates 'not only Community law, but also fundamental human rights'. The EU behavior is a “disregard for the rule of law” and a clear “abuse of power”, argues Lord Slynn of Hadley, for many years one of the highest British and European judges, against the drafters of the Brussels terror lists. What the EU has been doing here for years, also say the London law professors Sir Geoffrey Bindmann and Bill Bowring, is legally 'outrageous'. In short: the upper class of European legal experts is appalled. […] But that went too far for many European parliamentarians. A year ago, more than a hundred members of the European Parliament protested against the strange listing of the Brussels councilors. The Austrian liberal Karin Resetarits railed a 'scandal'. The German Green MP Cem Özdemir demanded that it 'shouldn't go on like this'. It went on like this. Now, after massive criticism from prominent lawyers, the parliamentarians took a fresh start. "
  19. ↑ Laudator: Rolf Gössner : Council of the European Union (EU Council of Ministers). BigBrotherAwards, October 24, 2008, accessed on April 1, 2016 (German): “ The EU Council of Ministers receives the BigBrotherAward for the EU terrorist list for which it is responsible. It classifies numerous organizations and individuals as 'terrorist' and subjects them to severe sanctions that lead to serious human rights violations. This data collection is neither democratically legitimized nor is it subject to democratic control. For a long time, those affected have not even been granted a fair hearing, let alone legal protection against official stigmatization. "