After years of lobbying the United States against branding Boko Haram Islamist sect a Foreign Terrorist Organisation(FTO), President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday formally approved the proscription of Boko Haram and authorized the gazetting of an order declaring the group’s activities as illegal and acts of terrorism.
The order, which has been gazetted as the Terrorism (Prevention) (Proscription Order) Notice 2013, affects both Boko Haram (Jamaatu Ahlis-Sunna Liddaawati Wal Jihad) and another group, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, and was approved by President Jonathan pursuant to Section 2 0f the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011 (As Amended).
According to the statement issued by Reuben Abati, this pronouncement officially brings the activities of both groups within the purview of the Terrorism Prevention Act and any persons associated with the two groups can now be legally prosecuted and sentenced to penalties specified in the Act.
The proscription order warns the general public that any person “participating in any form of activities involving or concerning the collective intentions of the said groups will be violating the provisions of the Terrorism Prevention Act.”
Section 5 (1) of the act prescribes a term of imprisonment of not less than 20 years for any person who knowingly, in any manner, directly or indirectly, solicits or renders support for the commission of an act of terrorism or to a terrorist group.
For the purposes of subsection (1) of section, “support” includes:
(a) Incitement to commit a terrorist act through the Internet, or any electronic means or through the use of printed materials or through the dissemination of terrorist information;
(b) receipt or provision of material assistance, weapons including biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, explosives, training, transportation, false documentation or identification to terrorists or terrorist groups;
(c) receipt or provision of information or moral assistance, including invitation to adhere to a terrorist or terrorist group;
(d) entering or remaining in a country for the benefit of, or at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group; or
(e) the provision of, or making available, such financial or other related services prohibited under this Act or as may be prescribed by regulations made pursuant to this Act.
The development means the United States can now equally designate Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). In that event, it would be unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to a designated FTO.
The term “material support or resources” is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(1) as “any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who maybe or include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or religious materials.”
18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(2) provides that for these purposes “the term ‘training’ means instruction or teaching designed to impart a specific skill, as opposed to general knowledge.” 18 U.S.C. § 2339A(b)(3) further provides that for these purposes the term ‘expert advice or assistance’ means advice or assistance derived from scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge.’’
Also, representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances, removable from the United States (see 8 U.S.C. §§ 1182 (a)(3)(B)(i)(IV)-(V), 1227 (a)(1)(A))
Any U.S. financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which a designated FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Such designation would also support effort to curb terrorism financing and encourage other nations to do the same. In addition to stigmatizing and isolating designated terrorist organizations internationally, it will also deter donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations and heighten public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations
