Hate preachers to face tougher sentences
Tough new guidelines for judges mean hate preachers convicted of encouraging terrorism face big increases in their jail sentences. The Sentencing Council is recommending that those found guilty would see their minimum time behind bars double from five to 10 years. Longer sentences are also proposed for those caught in possession of material such as bomb-making manuals that could inspire terrorist attacks and for those who fail to disclose details of imminent atrocities.
HATE preachers convicted of encouraging terrorism face big increases in their jail sentences under tough new guidelines for judges.
The Sentencing Council is recommending that those found guilty of encouraging terrorism would see their minimum time behind bars double from five to 10 years.
Longer sentences are also proposed for those caught in possession of material such as bomb-making manuals that could inspire terrorist attacks and those who fail to disclose information of imminent atrocities. Their minimum terms would rise from four to seven years.
The move follows increases in the maximum sentences under new terror laws. The Sentencing Council said they would enable courts to impose penalties that “better reflect the increased risk and the seriousness of these offences” and “take account of the need to punish, incapacitate and deter”.
Other changes widen the scope of section 12 of the Terrorism Act, under which hate preacher Anjem Choudary was convicted, to cover those who express support for a proscribed organisation and are “reckless as to whether others will be encouraged to support it”.
Choudary was freed last October after serving less than half of his fiveand-a-half year sentence for inviting support for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). There have been concerns that courts have been limited in their ability to impose heavier minimum terms for hate preachers convicted of encouraging terrorism. In 2017, Kamran Sabir Hussain, 40, was jailed for six and a half years after being found guilty of two charges of encouraging support for Isil and six charges of encouraging others to commit acts of terrorism. The new rules would permit a minimum of 10 years.
Hussain told children martyrdom was better than school in sermons encouraging his congregation to join Isil. The Stoke-on-trent imam delivered his lectures in front of the black Isil flag, to a congregation that included children as young as three.
“The kuffar (unbeliever) will attack you and kill you,” he told them. The council, an independent body that works to make sentencing rules more consistent, said the revised guidelines could be introduced in early 2020 and apply to offenders aged 18 and over. It said it had focused on the most serious offences where there had not previously been “headroom” to raise due to the statutory maximum.
Chris Philp, the justice minister, said: “Terrorism has a devastating impact on society and it is vital punishments properly fit the crime and we protect the public. These guidelines will give judges clear and consistent guidance when sentencing offenders so we keep pace with the changing nature of these crimes.”
The maximum sentence for encouraging terrorism has risen from seven to 15 years.
‘Terrorism has a devastating impact on society and it is vital that punishments properly fit the crime’