TerrorismCalls for Review of U.K. Terrorist Sentencing following London Attack
The London police shot and killed a terrorist who stabbed two people in a store in south London store. The perpetrator was wearing a fake suicide vest. The attacker, identified as 20-year old Sudesh Amman, had been under surveillance by the British counterterrorism unit, and was from prison at the end of January after serving only half of a 3-year and four-month prison sentence for the “possession and distribution of extremist material.”
The London police shot and killed a terrorist who stabbed two people in a store in south London store. The perpetrator was wearing a fake suicide vest.
“One person is at hospital in a life-threatening condition,” said London’s Metropolitan Police Service on Sunday evening. “A second victim was treated for minor injuries at the scene before being taken to hospital.”
A third person received minor injuries which police said were “caused by glass following the discharge of the police firearm.”
The attacker, identified as 20-year old Sudesh Amman, had been under surveillance by the British counterterrorism unit, and was from prison at the end of January after serving only half of a 3-year and four-month prison sentence for the “possession and distribution of extremist material.”
The Times reports that Amman was first jailed in December 2018 after pleading guilty to seven charges of disseminating terrorist publications and six charges of possessing material containing terrorist information.
Following the attack, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked “all emergency services responding to the incident.”
The past decade has seen an increase in terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom. In November, a convicted terrorist stabbed two people to death in central London before bystanders were able to wrestle him to the ground. He was wearing a fake suicide vest during the incident.
In the November attack, Usman Khan, 28, was shot dead by police after stabbing two former Cambridge University criminology students at London Bridge while wearing a fake suicide vest. Khan, who was jailed for links to a terrorist cell that plotted to blow up the London Stock Exchange, was released the previous December by the Parole Board.
Following Sunday attack, Boris Johnson said he will today announce plans for “fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences.” He had already promised changes following Khan’s London Bridge attack in November.
Details of the Counter Terrorism (Sentencing and Release) Bill were released in December, with measures including forcing dangerous terrorists who receive extended determinate sentences to serve the whole time behind bars and scrapping early release from jail for those classed as dangerous and handed extended determinate sentences.
