\n<\/p>\n
British foreign correspondents could be at risk of prosecution if they use sources within state-backed groups in countries such as Iran under national security legislation being rushed through parliament this week.<\/p>\n
David Anderson, a former UK independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has warned that unless the bill is amended it could accidentally pull journalists working in danger-zone countries into prosecutions for terrorism.<\/p>\n
The new anti-terror powers are designed to allow the UK government to label state-backed groups as terrorist organisations, enabling them to ban groups such as Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).<\/p>\n
The legal change, which is expected to complete its final parliamentary stages this week, would also create new criminal offences for people who \u201csupport, assist and obtain material benefits\u201d from groups formally listed as state-supported threats.<\/p>\n
However, there are concerns that the national security (state threats) bill would in practice go beyond its main aim of targeting proxies, and could end up penalising foreign correspondents as well.<\/p>\n
The Home Office denied the bill would undermine the work of journalists. The department\u2019s guidance suggests that journalists are protected, but Lord Anderson said those protections were not explicit in the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill seems to have been pulled together in a hurry, with mooted safeguards for NGOs and journalists largely absent from its text,\u201d the peer said. \u201cThat needs to be put right early this week, before the bill becomes law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the legislation, material benefits include not just financial benefits but also information. It would be an offence both to \u201cobtain, accept and retain\u201d this material benefit but also to \u201cagree to accept\u201d it \u2013 and there is no \u201creasonable excuse\u201d defence for either.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has also argued for the law to be amended, extending the \u201creasonable excuse\u201d defence to cover information. The government has not accepted his recommendation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are obvious concerns here for anyone whose legitimate business might cause them to have contact with a designated body or those in a position to give information on its behalf,\u201d Anderson said in a briefing note.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would place in potential jeopardy a charity such as Halo Trust, which could not lawfully ask the IRGC or its agents where the landmines were laid, or a conflict resolution organisation that needs to engage with designated bodies as part of its work.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n
Sign up to First Edition<\/span><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cForeign correspondents could also be affected. Indeed on the face of it, they would be at risk of prosecution if they were to have contact of any kind with sources within designated bodies or their agents.\u201d<\/p>\n Ministers have argued that information would only fall within the prohibition if it \u201cpossesses an inherent value that enriches the recipient\u201d, but Anderson points out the definition of material benefit includes information as a separate category, distinct from the financial benefit clause.<\/p>\n They have also offered the reassurance that those potentially caught by the new offence would only be prosecuted if the attorney general considered it was in the public interest. \u201c[You] will have their own views on how robust such a reassurance is in practice, and in all possible political futures,\u201d the cross-bench peer said.<\/p>\n A Home Office spokesperson said: \u201cThis bill does nothing to undermine the vital work journalists do, and any suggestion otherwise is absolutely false. Legitimate activity including journalistic freedoms are protected under the bill, as well as diplomatic and humanitarian engagement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a proud tradition in this country of upholding the freedom of the press. Indeed, it is our obligation to ensure journalists are empowered to carry out their work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" British foreign correspondents could be at risk of prosecution if they use sources within state-backed groups in countries such as Iran under national security legislation being rushed through parliament this week. David Anderson, a former UK independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has warned that unless the bill is amended it could accidentally pull journalists working<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[142,336,1243,320,5260,3873,2838,1242,199,4859,1755],"class_list":{"0":"post-50745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-bill","9":"tag-british","10":"tag-counterterrorism","11":"tag-experts","12":"tag-journalists","13":"tag-prosecutions","14":"tag-pull","15":"tag-security","16":"tag-state","17":"tag-terror","18":"tag-threats"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}