‘Jihadists should be prosecuted for treason’
Former law and security chiefs call for update to medieval law to charge terrorists
BRITAIN’S archaic treason law should be updated and used to prosecute jihadists who have fought in Syria, a former home secretary, a head of MI5, a lord chief justice and a head of counterterror policing say today.
The Treason Act of 1351 has not been used since 1945, but there are now calls for it to be revised to prosecute terrorists amid growing fears that British laws are not tough enough to deal with returning jihadists.
The recommendation, in a report by the Policy Exchange think tank, has been backed by leading figures including Amber Rudd, the former home secretary, and Lord Evans of Weardale, the former head of MI5.
It follows the disclosures by The Daily Telegraph that Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, abandoned Britain’s blanket opposition to the death penalty to allow two members of the “Beatles” group of Isil terrorists to be sent to US.
In a letter to Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general, Mr Javid raised concerns that Britain’s anti-terror laws might not be robust enough to ensure a successful prosecution. He said he believed US laws were more effective.
Mr Javid was yesterday warned by human rights lawyers that he faced a court challenge over his decision.
There is growing concern over the treatment of returning jihadists, with only a fraction of those who have travelled to Syria facing prosecution.
Yesterday, Max Hill QC, the Government’s counter-terrorism watchdog, was appointed as the next director of public prosecutions despite having previously apparently advocated an even more liberal approach to returning jihadists.
The medieval Treason Act still remains law but is considered “unworkable”. The last person to be convicted under the law was William Joyce, more commonly known as Lord Haw-haw, who was convicted in 1945 and hanged in 1946 for assisting Nazi Germany.
The report argues that a new offence would “mark out treasonous acts” and allow the courts to impose “justifiably severe punishment”. It would have the added effect of deterring other potential offenders and “incapacitate those who threaten our country”.
Ms Rudd said: “The time has come for us to consider additional measures, such as those set out in this report, that we need to deal with those who betray this country.”
In a foreword to the report, Lord Judge, the former lord chief justice of England and Wales, wrote: “If a citizen of this country chooses to fight with the Taliban in Afghanistan against British forces, his crime is more than terrorism. It is treason, and should be prosecuted accordingly.”
Lord Evans said the report was “timely and balanced”, while Richard Walton, the former head of counter- terrorism at Scotland Yard, said being prosecuted for treason was “appropriate” for jihadists.
The Treason Act of 1351 is focused on those who “compass or imagine” the death of the “Sovereign, of the King’s wife or of the Sovereign’s eldest child or heir”. It also includes anyone who “levies war against the Sovereign” or “slays the chancellor, treasurer or King’s justices”. The Policy Exchange report says it is “not fit for purpose”
and there are “grave doubts” about what is meant by the “antiquated and cumbrous” language.
The report says that the offence should be updated based on the laws of Australia and New Zealand.
The new treason law would make it an offence to aid a state or organisation that is either attacking the UK or preparing to attack the UK. It would apply to all British citizens, wherever they are in the world.
Tom Tugendhat, a co-author of the paper and chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said: “The law must be written to ensure they can be stopped and their betrayal is recognised as a distinct crime.”
Between 2006 and 2017, 193 people were jailed for terrorism offences. More than 80 of them are due for release this year.
Until 1998, the Treason Act allowed for people to be hanged. Under the Crime and Disorder Act, the maximum sentence was changed to life imprisonment.