Category Archives: Counter-terrorism policy

Shamima Begum ruling deals bitter blow to chances of UK return

Posted on by

Past supreme court ruling meant Siac judges found themselves unable to contradict home secretary

Almost exactly four years after she was stripped of her citizenship, Shamima Begum’s hopes of returning to the UK have been dealt a bitter blow, with the special immigration appeals commission (Siac) upholding the decision.

It is the latest development – and unlikely to be the last – in a legal fight that Begum’s family began in March 2019, one month after the then home secretary, Sajid Javid, took his controversial decision, shortly after she was found in a refugee camp in north-east Syria.

Continue reading...

Shamima Begum loses appeal against removal of British citizenship

Posted on by

Special immigration appeals commission decides revocation of her citizenship was lawful

Shamima Begum, who left Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State (IS), has lost an appeal against the decision to remove her British citizenship.

Describing it as a case of “great concern and difficulty”, the special immigration appeals commission (Siac) ruled that although there was “credible suspicion” that Begum was trafficked for sexual exploitation, the decision was ultimately one for the home secretary.

Continue reading...

UK counter-terrorism report author accused of basing conclusions on ‘handful of cases’

Posted on by

William Shawcross analysed just six Channel cases before calling for more focus on Islamist extremism, say critics

The author of a controversial review into Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy has been accused of failing to do his job properly because he attended only a handful of the thousands of meetings of its key deradicalisation programme.

William Shawcross was appointed to review Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme, in January 2021. Last week his controversial conclusion that the programme had concentrated too much on the far right and not enough on Islamist extremism was met with widespread condemnation.

Continue reading...

Ministers studying plans for UK child-specific terrorism orders

Posted on by

Exclusive: Official adviser recommends giving those arrested for low-level crimes a choice to accept help or face jail

New legal terrorism orders specifically for children should be brought in to tackle the growing numbers being arrested, the official adviser on terrorism law has told the government.

Ministers are studying plans that would result in children being compelled to accept help or face jail, devised by Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

Continue reading...

Burnham: poor leadership left Manchester emergency crews unready for attack

Posted on by

Greater Manchester mayor says report into 2017 atrocity raises serious questions for whole of UK

The “poor leadership” of emergency services meant Manchester was not ready for the terrorist attack that killed 22 people in 2017, the region’s mayor, Andy Burnham, has said.

A damning inquiry report on the Manchester arena bombing identified significant failings by police, fire and ambulance services. At least one of those killed would probably have survived were it not for a response that was described as badly prepared, delayed and chaotic, it was found.

Continue reading...

James Cleverly calls for countries to unite to deprive terrorists of funds

Posted on by

UK foreign secretary was speaking at memorial ceremony for victims of 2008 attacks in Mumbai

Countries must work together to deprive terrorists of funding in order to prevent deadly attacks, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.

Cleverly is in India for a two-day meeting of the UN security council’s counter-terrorism committee, which is being held in Mumbai and Delhi.

Continue reading...

Truss axes national security council, sparking ‘talking-shop’ concerns

Posted on by

Labour says new merged foreign policy council could reduce Whitehall policy-makers’ focus on security

Liz Truss has scrapped the national security council and merged it with two Boris Johnson-era foreign policy committees in a structure that Labour warned risked diluting the government’s security focus.

Created in 2010 under the coalition, led by David Cameron and Nick Clegg, to better coordinate security policy after the disaster of the Iraq war, the NSC is now to be replaced by a broad eight-strong foreign policy and security council (FPSC).

Continue reading...

UK Prevent scheme should be ‘ideologically blind’, says adviser

Posted on by

Amid leaks of strategy’s review, Sara Khan says focus on only one form of extremism is counterproductive

The counter-terrorism Prevent programme, which has been dogged by claims of being a cover to spy on Muslim communities, should be “ideologically blind”, a government adviser has said.

The strategy is currently the subject of a review by Sir William Shawcross, and leaks suggest it will conclude that Prevent has been too focused on rightwing extremism in recent years. Instead it will say there should be a renewed focus on Islamist extremism, the leaks show, prompting accusations that the findings are politically motivated.

Continue reading...

Islamism remains first-order security threat to west, says Tony Blair

Posted on by

In speech marking 20 years since 9/11 attacks, former British PM warns that non-state actors may turn to bio-terrorism

The west still faces the threat of 9/11-style attacks by radical Islamist groups but this time using bio-terrorism, Tony Blair has warned.

Blair also challenges the US president, Joe Biden, by urging democratic governments not to lose confidence in using military force to defend and export their values.

Continue reading...

Dominic Raab’s mobile number freely available online for last decade

Posted on by

Exclusive: Finding raises questions for security services weeks after similar revelations about PM’s number

The private mobile number of Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, has been online for at least 11 years, raising questions for the security services weeks after the prime minister’s number was also revealed to be accessible to anyone.

Raab’s number was discovered by a Guardian reader using a Google search. It appears to have been online since before he became an MP in 2010, and remained after he became foreign secretary and first secretary of state – de facto deputy prime minister – in 2019.

Continue reading...

Watchdog steps in over secrecy about UK women in Syria stripped of citizenship

Posted on by

Exclusive: Home Office refusal to disclose how many women are in same position as Shamima Begum prompts action

The Home Office’s refusal to disclose the number of women who, like Shamima Begum, have been deprived of their British citizenship after travelling to join Islamic State is under investigation by the information commissioner.

The watchdog said it would step in after the government refused to share the data with a human rights group concerned about the conditions of British women and children detained in camps in north-east Syria, where conditions are dire.

Continue reading...

UK’s anti-terror chief fears rights group boycott threatens Prevent review

Posted on by

Neil Basu says move to protest appointment of William Shawcross could harm process

Britain’s best chance of reducing terrorist violence risks being damaged amid a huge backlash to the government’s choice of William Shawcross to lead a review of Prevent, the country’s top counter-terrorism officer has told the Guardian.

Assistant commissioner Neil Basu’s comments came after key human rights and Muslim groups announced a boycott of the official review of Prevent, which aims to stop Britons being radicalised into violent extremism.

Continue reading...

People with extremist views less able to do complex mental tasks, research suggests

Posted on by

Cambridge University team say their findings could be used to spot people at risk from radicalisation

Our brains hold clues for the ideologies we choose to live by, according to research, which has suggested that people who espouse extremist attitudes tend to perform poorly on complex mental tasks.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge sought to evaluate whether cognitive disposition – differences in how information is perceived and processed – sculpt ideological world-views such as political, nationalistic and dogmatic beliefs, beyond the impact of traditional demographic factors like age, race and gender.

Continue reading...

Largest number of Prevent referrals related to far-right extremism

Posted on by

Of cases referred on to Channel, 43% were for rightwing and 30% for Islamist radicalisation

Just 11% of referrals to the government’s controversial Prevent programme were ultimately deemed to be at risk of radicalisation, with the largest number of referrals relating to far-right extremism.

The annual figures emerged as James Brokenshire, the security minister, warned that far-right terror posed “a growing threat” which had been accelerated by the amplification of conspiracy theories online during the pandemic.

Continue reading...

Convicted terrorists less likely to reoffend than other criminals – study

Posted on by

Research suggests 5% commit another terrorism offence after leaving prison

Convicted terrorists are extremely unlikely to reoffend compared with other prisoners, research by academics and security services in Europe has found.

The research shows that less than 5% of convicted terrorists commit a second terrorist offence after leaving prison. In England and Wales, around 45% of all prisoners will reoffend within a year of release.

Continue reading...

Met police concedes forcing woman to remove hijab at airport was wrong

Posted on by

Critics say female Muslim travellers have been targeted. An out-of-court settlement suggests they are right

Police have admitted that forcing Muslim women to remove their headscarves at UK airports could be unlawful, a practice likened by one victim to being made “to remove her top”.

In an out-of-court settlement, the Metropolitan Police has conceded that when it coerced a woman to take off her hijab so officers could photograph her, it was a breach of her human rights and violated the woman’s right to religious observance.

Continue reading...

Sentencing: minister rejects European human rights convention warning

Posted on by

Matt Hancock’s comments come as UK seeks tougher sentencing for terrorists

A senior government minister has raised further questions over Britain’s relationship with the European convention on human rights (ECHR) as Boris Johnson scrambles to push through tougher sentencing for terrorists.

Legal experts have suggested the government’s intended plan to extend the time terrorists serve in prison could be in breach of the ECHR, to which Britain has been signed up for decades.

Continue reading...

Minister denies prison cuts made terrorism suspects hard to track

Posted on by

Rishi Sunak defends policies amid backlash over early release of Streatham attacker

The chief secretary to the Treasury has rejected the idea that cuts to prison and probation services have made it harder to rehabilitate or monitor terrorism suspects after a man who left prison days ago was shot dead by police after he stabbed two people in London.

Rishi Sunak declined to reveal the measures that Boris Johnson or the home secretary, Priti Patel, would announce on Monday after the attack by Sudesh Amman on Streatham High Road.

Continue reading...

Government terror adviser warns ‘no magic test’ to stop reoffending

Posted on by

Criticism follows government plan to include lie-detector tests in monitoring of convicted terrorists on release

The government’s adviser on terror legislation has warned that there is “no magic test” to determine the risks posed by a terrorist on release from prison, in further criticism of recently announced proposals to examine them with lie detectors.

Jonathan Hall QC said in a speech that it was “impossible to guard against all risks” of violent reoffending and that any system which handed over release decisions to “risk experts” using polygraphs or any other method would be unacceptable.

Continue reading...

Polygraph’s revival may be about truth rather than lies

Posted on by

The science is shaky on lie detecting but there is evidence polygraphs have another use

Telling lies is stressful. That’s the basic logic of a polygraph test: that the stress of deceiving others will manifest itself through fleeting physical responses that may be imperceptible to another person but can be measured by a machine. Typically, a polygraph records blood pressure, galvanic skin response (a proxy for sweat), breathing and pulse rate.

There is a fairly standard protocol for the lie detector examination. The examiner will mix specific questions relevant to a case – “Did you commit a robbery on 29 March?” – with a series of control questions. Crucially, the control questions are also designed to be anxiety-inducing – for instance: “Have you ever stolen from a friend?” Along the way, the subject will be reminded that the machine can distinguish truth from lies and that they must respond truthfully.

Continue reading...