Our Picks: Terrorism in the U.K.Wrong Conversations about Extremism in Britain | Overhauling Counterterrorism Project | Tougher Terrorism Sentences, and more

Published 19 October 2021

·  Terrorist Plotters to Face 14 Years in Jail Under New U.K. Rules

·  We Are Having the Wrong Conversations about Extremism in Britain

·  UK ‘Ignoring Report on Laws That Allow Groups to Glorify Terrorism’

·  U.K. Terror-Prevention Program Questioned After Lawmaker Slain

·  Grinning Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary Boasts That He May Film New Extremist Videos as He Strolls Along the Street Free of Any Conditions Days After David Amess Terror Attack Despite Influencing More Than 100 UK Jihadis

·  ‘The Body Count Doesn’t Lie’: How Islamist Terrorists Behind Four Attacks – and Suspect in David Amess Murder – Were ALL Referred To Prevent… Yet Six Lives Have Been Lost Since 2018 as Scheme ‘Focuses on Right-Wing Threat’

·  Stopping Terrorists Starts with Prevent – but an Overhaul Is Badly Needed

Terrorist Plotters to Face 14 Years in Jail Under New U.K. Rules  (Soraya Ebrahimi, The National)
Terrorists who plot to carry out attacks that could lead to at least two deaths may face at least 14 years in prison under new sentencing guidelines. The Sentencing Council will on Wednesday set out its proposed guidance to judges on how they should apply the new mandatory minimum jail term, which became law this year. The Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021 created a new category of “serious terrorist offences” amid concerns offenders convicted of planning attacks were receiving relatively light sentences. It stipulated that those found guilty under the new category should face a minimum of 14 years in custody – with an extension period to be served on licence of between seven and 25 years – unless there are “exceptional circumstances”. In its guidance, the council will say it should apply when a court finds there is “a significant risk” to the public of “serious harm occasioned by the commission by the offender of further serious terrorism offences”. It should also cover cases where the offence “was very likely to result in or contribute to [whether directly or indirectly] the deaths of at least two people”. The proposed guidance, which will be subject to a consultation that runs until January 11, was welcomed by Dominic Raab, the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.

We Are Having the Wrong Conversations about Extremism in Britain  (Liam Duffy, The Telegraph)
It seems every new extremist attack we face is followed by the almost inevitable, gut-wrenching news: the attacker was known to authorities. Manchester bomber Salman Abed was on MI5’s radar; Usman Khan, the Fishmonger’s Hall knifeman participated in deradicalization and rehabilitation schemes both inside and outside prison walls. One of the 2017 London Bridge attackers’ extremism was so well documented that he appeared in a Channel 4 undercover program: ‘The Jihadis Next Door’. Sir David Amess MP’s alleged assailant, meanwhile, was previously referred to Prevent, the Government’s counter-radicalization strategy. Forget ‘lone wolves’ - try known wolves. As with the rest of the regrettably long list of attacks we’ve experienced, many will ask whether the authorities missed some crucial opportunity to avert tragedy.