Australia proscribes Houtis as a terror organisation

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Australia has declared Ansar Allah as a terrorist organisation.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus stated: “Ansar Allah’s violent attacks in the Gulf of Aden and surrounding region have killed civilians, taken hostages and severely disrupted navigational rights and freedoms in the waters around the Arabian Peninsula, undermining maritime security and global prosperity.

The Government’s decision to list Ansar Allah follows advice from Australia’s security agencies that Ansar Allah is directly or indirectly engaged in the preparing, planning, assisting in, or fostering of terrorist attacks.

Mark Dreyfus

Senator James Paterson has welcomed the government’s decision to finally list the Houthis (Ansar Allah) as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code Act 1995.

He said: “This listing means that it is a Commonwealth criminal offence to be a member of, associate with, participate in, train with, or support this terrorist organisation – is punishable by up to 25 years imprisonment.

I first called upon the government to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organisation on 9 January 2024 in a letter directly to the Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and the Attorney General Mark Dreyfus.

The Houthis have for years targeted civilians as part of the conflict in Yemen, carrying out widespread violations of international humanitarian law. This organisation has directly attempted military strikes on our ally Israel, and has also disrupted international shipping through the Red Sea. These attacks prompted the US Government – in conjunction with its allies – to launch Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect cargo ships, but regrettably the Albanese government refused to send Australian navy vessels to support this operation.

I reiterate the Coalition’s request for the government to take similar action and finally designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation,  as we have previously called for multiple times due to its egregious acts of violence and its support for other listed terror groups, such as the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Opposition stands ready to offer bipartisan support in taking the necessary steps to enable the listing of the IRGC, and we urge the government’s swift and positive consideration of this issue.”

The executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Dr Colin Rubenstein said: “Ansar Allah functions as Yemen’s Hezbollah, the latter also listed in its entirety as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code. Both groups are organs of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Notwithstanding the Government’s position that ‘as an organ of a nation state, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not the kind of entity that is covered by the terrorist organisation provisions in the Criminal Code,’ AIJAC continues to call on the Government to introduce the legislative changes it deems necessary to list the IRGC under the Criminal Code alongside its already listed appendages, proxies and allies like Ansar Allah, Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” .