JIHADIS FREE TO ROAM UK
Just 40 out of 400 British fanatics returning from Syria and Iraq have been prosecuted
ONLY 40 out of 400 British jihadis who fought in Syria and Iraq have been prosecuted on their return home.
At least 360 battle-hardened fanatics are being allowed to go free because there is too little evidence to convict them.
The figures, disclosed by security minister Ben Wallace, will raise concerns over whether the authorities can keep track of all the dangerous extremists on our streets.
Police chiefs have repeatedly warned of the severity of the terror threat facing Britain – particularly from those who have been radicalised by fighting abroad.
John Woodcock, the Labour MP who had pressed for the release of the figures, said: ‘It’s no wonder the Government tried to keep secret that it has only managed to prosecute one in ten of the British jihadis returning from Syria.
‘It is an affront to our country that the difficulty of amassing admissible evidence means there is no comeuppance for people who went to aid an evil regime that wanted to slaughter British civilians.’
He said it should be made illegal to travel to terror hotspots without good excuse. This could mean evidence would not be needed to prosecute Islamic State fanatics.
The last time the Home Office revealed the number of returning foreign fighters taken to
court was in 2016. Then it stood at 14. Speaking in a Commons debate on Monday, Mr Wallace said: ‘Approximately 40 have been prosecuted so far – either because of direct action they have carried out in Syria or, subsequent to coming back, linked to that foreign fighting.’
The figure of 40 refers to successful prosecutions. More will have faced charges that did not stick.
Mr Woodcock, a member of the Commons home affairs committee, said the low prosecution rate showed ‘how urgently we need to toughen our terror laws’.
He added: ‘So, only one tenth of people have been successfully prosecuted.
‘That does not mean the others are innocent of terrorism charges, if they have been over to Iraq and Syria, if they have
‘Enemies of the British state’
been aiding Daesh in whatever form and they are British citizens, they have been aiding enemies of the British state.
‘Ministers must agree to include a terror travel ban in the counter terror bill going through parliament so we can use the fact that people went to a jihadi war zone without good reason as proof of their intent to support terror.’
He cited Australia’s declared areas offence, under which its citizens risk ten years in jail for travelling to Iraq or Syria.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he would be ‘looking at just that’, adding: ‘There’s a bit more work to do on it, it’s not as straightforward as it might sound.’
‘The honourable gentleman mentions the Australian extraterritorial offence that has been created, and I am looking at just that. If it is to become a legislative proposal, I obviously want to make sure that we have considered it properly.
‘If I am persuaded by it and we can complete the work in time, I intend to bring that forward as a Government amendment to the bill.’ Around 850 Britons are believed to have travelled to Syria or Iraq and at least 15 per cent of them are thought to be dead.
Security service chiefs and counter-terrorism officers fear those still there might try to return to the UK as the so-called caliphate is wiped out.
Several have also been detained in the region and their fate remains uncertain. They include Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, suspected members of the group nicknamed ‘The Beatles’, which murdered British and American hostages as well as Syrian soldiers.
Ministers have yet to agree on what to do with captured foreign fighters. If they are brought back to face trial there is a risk that there will not be enough evidence to convict them.
In 2016, Lord Keen of Elie, as government spokesman in the Lords, wrongly stated that 54 fighters from the UK who had travelled to either Syria or Iraq had been prosecuted.
It was later clarified that this referred to those who had been prosecuted in relation to activities in the region but who had not necessarily travelled there.
The true figure was revealed as ten cases involving 14 defendants.
Police officers have been carrying out mock exercises with soldiers to prepare for attempted atrocities by returning jihadis.
Troops armed with AK-47s, knives and fake bombs posed as extremists carrying out a mass casualty attack at a theatre in County Durham.
Three hundred members of Durham and Cleveland police, the fire brigade and ambulance service, as well as 120 volunteers, took part in Exercise Root last September. Eight soldiers from 1st Infantry Training Battalion, based at Catterick, North Yorkshire, took on the role of a ‘military-trained enemy’.