‘The Supreme Court has held that the offence of expressing an opinion or belief in support of a proscribed organisation in s.12(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000 does not disproportionately interfere with the Article 10 ECHR right to freedom of expression. However, in light of the importance to be attached to Article 10, the Court has created two “back door” pathways where some degree of proportionality might be exercised by judges in cases relating to s.12(1A). First, the Court has invited judges trying the s.12(1A) offence to be “robust” in exercising their powers to discontinue proceedings if a reasonable jury cannot be sure that all elements of the offence are met. Second, the Court has confirmed that sentences attaching to the s.12(1A) offence must themselves be proportionate, so as to not interfere with Article 10. We argue that although the Court rejected the need for a Ziegler-style separate proportionality assessment in this case, there remains ample room for the role of proportionality when it comes to section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000. The case is R v ABJ; R v BDN [2026] UKSC 8.’
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Administrative Court Blog, 28th February 2026
Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com