Part 1: Counter-terrorism Chapter 1: Terrorist offences Section 1: Expressions of support for a proscribed organisation
Section 1 amends section 12 of the 2000 Act to make it an offence to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation in circumstances where the perpetrator is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.
	Under section 3 of the 2000 Act, the Home Secretary may proscribe an organisation if she believes it is concerned with terrorism (as defined in section 1 of 2000 Act), that is the organisation:
	commits or participates in acts of terrorism;
	prepares for terrorism;
	promotes or encourages terrorism (including through the unlawful glorification of terrorism); or
	is otherwise concerned with terrorism.
	Proscribed terrorist organisations are listed in Schedule 2 to the 2000 Act. There are currently 74 proscribed international terrorist organisations (including Al Qa’ida, Boko Haram, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL – also known as Daesh) and National Action) and 14 organisations in Northern Ireland that were proscribed under earlier legislation.
	Section 12(1) of the 2000 Act provides that it is an offence to invite support for a proscribed organisation (and the support is not, or is not restricted to the provision of money or other property – such conduct is covered by the separate fund-raising offence in section 15 of the 2000 Act).
	The scope of the section 12(1) offence was considered by the Court of Appeal in the case of R v Choudhary and Rahman [2016] EWCA Crim 61. The Court of Appeal was clear that a central ingredient of the offence was inviting support from third parties for a proscribed organisation and that the offence "does not prohibit the holding of opinions or beliefs supportive of a proscribed organisation; or the expression of those opinions or beliefs" (paragraph 35 of the judgment). This section therefore provides for a new offence which criminalises the expression of an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation (the actus reus or criminal act) in circumstances where the perpetrator is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation (the mens rea or mental element). The recklessness test is a subjective one, requiring that the perpetrator be aware of the risk. The new offence, as with the section 12(1) offence, is not subject to a minimum number of people to whom the expression is directed, nor is it limited in terms of applying only to expressions in a public place. The new offence is subject to the same maximum penalty as the existing section 12 offences; that is, ten years’ imprisonment (section 12(6)).