ONE DAY TO KEEP TERRORIST IN JAIL
Early release ban rushed into law
EMERGENCY laws delaying terrorists’ release from jail are being rushed through to take effect the day before a jihadist is freed.
New legislation unveiled after Sudesh Amman, 20, went on the rampage in a South London street will be voted on in the House of Commons by Thursday.
Ministers want the changes, which end automatic release halfway through a sentence, in place by February 27.
It is understood that one offender is due for release on February 28.
He is among at least six terrorists due out in the next two months who could be held for longer than they expect.
Mohammed Khilji, who shared videos of soldiers being beheaded on Whatsapp and Mohammed Ghani, who had terror magazines on electronic devices, are due out in March under current rules.
Another is thought to be Aras Hamid, 30, who was convicted of trying to join Islamic State in Syria.
The law change, which will need Royal Assent from the Queen, will affect more than 200 convicted terrorists.
A Whitehall official said: “If the legislation is passed by February 27 we can prevent the automatic release of any further terrorist suspects who might pose a threat to the public.”
The head of UK counter-terror policing, Neil Basu, backed the plan, saying: “With 3,000 or so subjects of interest currently on our radar and many
Amman just before attack and mugshot, inset convicted terrorists soon due to be released from prison, we simply cannot watch all of them, all the time.
“My colleagues and I are supportive of the plans to keep the most dangerous terrorists locked up for longer.”
Human rights group Liberty says the “threat to break the law by changing people’s sentences retrospectively” could “create more problems than it solves”.
Amman was under police surveillance when he stabbed a teacher, 51, and a man in his 40s in Streatham on Sunday. Marksmen shot him dead. He had been freed on January 23 after serving half his sentence for previous terror offences.
It has emerged Amman had links to a notorious preacher, Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, who was also thought to have inspired London Bridge attacker Usman Khan and hundreds of other jihadists.