2 Membership, support and meetings.E+W+S
(1)Subject to subsection (3) below, a person is guilty of an offence if he—
(a)belongs or professes to belong to a proscribed organisation;
(b)solicits or invites support for a proscribed organisation other than support with money or other property; or
(c)arranges or assists in the arrangement or management of, or addresses, any meeting of three or more persons (whether or not it is a meeting to which the public are admitted) knowing that the meeting is—
(i)to support a proscribed organisation;
(ii)to further the activities of such an organisation; or
(iii)to be addressed by a person belonging or professing to belong to such an organisation.
(2)A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above is liable—
(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or a fine or both;
(b)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.
(3)A person belonging to a proscribed organisation is not guilty of an offence under this section by reason of belonging to the organisation if he shows—
(a)that he became a member when it was not a proscribed organisation under the current legislation; and
(b)that he has not since he became a member taken part in any of its activities at any time while it was a proscribed organisation under that legislation.
(4)In subsection (3) above “the current legislation”, in relation to any time, means whichever of the following was in force at that time—
(a)the M1Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1974;
(b)the M2Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976;
(c)the M3Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1984; or
(d)this Act.
(5)The reference in subsection (3) above to a person becoming a member of an organisation is a reference to the only or last occasion on which he became a member.
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1S. 2(1) restricted (28.7.1998) by 1998 c. 35, s. 14(2)(a); S.I. 1998/1858, art. 2
Marginal Citations