New Zealand includes US far-right groups on terrorist list

Sydney, Australia, Jun 30 (EFE).- New Zealand included the American neo-fascist paramilitary organization The Base and the far-right group Proud Boys, involved in the Capitol assault last year, in its list of extremist organizations, local media reported Thursday.

The inclusion means anyone who has property or financial ties to The Base and Proud Boys can be prosecuted in the courts of the country and sentenced to up to seven years in prison under the Terrorism Suppression Act, Radio New Zealand reported Thursday.

Any person or institution that suspects that these organizations have assets in New Zealand has the obligation to report it to the Police, according to the measure signed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

New Zealand’s decision to include the Proud Boys comes after the US legislative committee, which is investigating the assault on Capitol Hill, concluded on Jun. 6 that this group was behind the attack on Congress and, prior to the assault, more than 250 of its members went to parliament.

On the other hand, The Base was included for its intentions to promote “a race war” that aims to trigger the collapse of American democracy, according to official documents.

The Base, founded in 2018, is a neo-Nazi paramilitary group active in the US and Canada, and believed to have cells in Europe, South Africa and Australia.

New Zealand redoubled its fight against the extreme right after the supremacist attack perpetrated by the Australian Brenton Tarrant on Mar. 15, 2019 when he killed 51 people and injured 40 others in an attack with large-caliber weapons against two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The author of that supremacist attack, who broadcast part of the assault live and published his ideology on social networks, was sentenced to life in prison without the right to parole and is the first person tried for terrorism in the history of this oceanic country. EFE

wat/lds