Official Anti-Extremism Review Recommends Arrests for Celebrating Terrorism

Celebrating terrorist acts or praising proscribed groups should be viewed as a form of “indirect encouragement” of terrorism resulting in arrest and prosecution, the government’s anti-extremism adviser has recommended. Lord Walney’s review on political violence and disruption released on Tuesday said the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should interpret and apply the law on encouraging terrorism more “broadly,” so that glorifying terror “would be an offence without the condition of encouraging others to engage in the commission or preparation of terrorism.” He said that if courts do not support this interpretation of current legislation, “the Government should keep under review the introduction a summary-only terrorism offence that explicitly prohibits the celebrating, praising, glorifying, or endorsing of acts of terrorism, proscribed terrorist groups, or terrorists.”...