The Quest for a Satisfactory Definition of Terrorism: R v Gul

Greene, Alan

doi:10.1111/1468-2230.12090

The Quest for a Satisfactory Definition of Terrorism: R v Gul

Greene, Alan

Authors

Alan Greene

Abstract

The UK Supreme Court judgment in R v Gul presented a unique opportunity for a judicial appraisal of the definition of terrorism contained in section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000. While the applicant was ultimately unsuccessful in his challenge, the Supreme Court's rejection of the state's argument that reliance on prosecutorial discretion could mitigate certain absurd applications of the section 1 definition of terrorism, eg the labelling of acts of UK or other military forces as terrorist, has potentially wide-raging implications for the UK's counter-terrorism measures. In addition, the powerful obiter dictum arguing in favour of a reform of this definition and a ‘root-and-branch’ review of counter-terrorism legislation is a strong rebuke of recent high profile misapplications of such powers.

Citation

Greene, A. (2014). The Quest for a Satisfactory Definition of Terrorism: R v Gul. Modern Law Review, 77(5), 780-793. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12090

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 10, 2014
Online Publication Date	Aug 28, 2014
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2014
Deposit Date	Jul 9, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Aug 28, 2016
Journal	Modern Law Review
Print ISSN	0026-7961
Electronic ISSN	1468-2230
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	77
Issue	5
Pages	780-793
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12090
Keywords	Terrorism, Terrorism Act 2001, Gul, National security, Human rights.

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Greene, A. (2014), The Quest for a Satisfactory Definition of Terrorism: R v Gul. The Modern Law Review, 77(5): 780-793, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12090. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.