Ban on extremist speakers is ruled ‘unlawful’

A “PREVENT” ban on extremist speakers at universities is “unlawful”, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The Government has been forced to partially revise its counter-terrorism strategy after senior judges decided that the guidance was not balanced and accurate enough.

Dr Salman Butt, a Muslim campaigner, won a Court of Appeal challenge against part of the Prevent Duty Guidance, which states: “When deciding whether or not to host a particular speaker, RHEBS should consider carefully whether the views being expressed, or likely to be expressed, constitute extremist views that risk drawing people into terrorism or are shared by terrorist groups.”

Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls, ruled yesterday that the guidance, issued under the Counter Terrorism and Security Act, was unlawful and should be quashed.

The judge said it was not “sufficiently balanced or accurate” to inform higher education institutions of their duty to ensure freedom of speech when deciding whether to host a speaker.

But the court dismissed a challenge by Dr Butt regarding the process by which information about “extremists” is collected, stored and used by the Extremist Analysis Unit (EAU).

In 2015, the 33-year-old from Slough, who is the chief editor of the website Islam21c, was named as being a “nonviolent extremist” among a group of public speakers who expressed “views contrary to British values”.

Dr Butt claims he has suffered as a result of the press release – which is the subject of a separate defamation claim – and the guidance.

Sir Terence said: “He says he has received far fewer invitations to speak than he would have expected based on past trends, and that he has declined others in order to spare the inviting institutions the embarrassment of being associated with a ‘hate speaker’.”

Dr Butt said: “I brought this legal challenge because I believe that the Government should not be in the business of arbitrarily determining what is and is not a valid opinion or belief to hold and labelling anyone it does not like as extremist.

“I am not an extremist and never have been.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We are delighted that the court has agreed with us on the majority of the grounds in this case.

“Prevent is a vital part of our counter-terrorism work… We will consider the implications of the court’s judgment relating to a single paragraph of Prevent duty guidance for universities.”