Britain is too soft on extremists

Existing laws were designed for ordinary offenders, not bloodthirsty traitorous ideologues who despise their own country and its people

Britain’s treatment of dangerous radicals is not only absurd, but also highly dangerous. Bad enough that senior members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood were invited to apply for asylum in the United Kingdom on its Home Office website, the country is now welcoming an influx of White Helmets, a controversial rescue contingent active in Syria operating solely in ‘rebel’ areas.

Praised by many as brave heroes, members have also faced accusations of being propagandists for known terrorist groups. The Netherlands stopped funding the White Helmets fearing money was being transferred to nefarious groups and their activities in areas controlled by armed groups was deemed “unacceptable”.

Even more worrisome is the fact that more than 400 British fanatics who fought with Daesh in Iraq and Syria have returned home since their dreams of a ‘Caliphate’ were dashed and only one in ten have been prosecuted, according to John Woodcock, a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Killers are free to roam the streets under the pretext that there is insufficient evidence for trials.

An investigation conducted by the Mail on Sunday found that “terror suspects” are being allowed to jump council house queues as a “bribe” to dissuade them from launching attacks on the UK. The paper also reported that “up to 20,000 extremists who have been previously investigated by MI5 will be targeted in the scheme called Operation Constrain under which such deviants will be offered education and jobs.

There are 300,000 homeless people in Britain and the numbers of those found dead on the streets have doubled over the last five years. One must wonder why they are being abandoned while the dregs of humanity receive governmental assistance that can only be described as an advance reward for good behaviour. In reality, the powers are attempting to appease enemies of the state and the people rather than face them head-on.

Those who do see the inside of a prison cell typically receive short sentences and often work to radicalise other inmates. Ian Acheson, a former prison governor, told the Independent that prisons are not geared to combat seductive extremist messages. “It’s a clown show,” he said. This month, a vicious terrorist recruiter Anjem Choudary will be freed from jail after serving just half of a five-year sentence despite being characterised by the Minister for Prisons Rory Stewart as “a genuinely dangerous person” who is “a deeply pernicious destabilising influence”. His crazed following includes one of the London Bridge attackers and the killers of Lee Rigby, a British soldier.

Existing laws tie the hands of authorities. They were designed for ordinary offenders, not bloodthirsty traitorous ideologues who despise their own country and its people. It’s beyond time the powers that be grew a backbone.

The latest shocker is Hizb ut Tahrir, a widely banned extremist group that remains legal in the UK, holding ‘road shows’ around the country using children as young as ten to distribute pamphlets that compare westerners to animals, disparage democracy and justify suicide attacks. A new generation of haters is being nurtured in a culture that permits our planet’s most heinous to flourish and expand. How many more innocents will have to die before lessons will be learned?

■ Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British political columnist and guest television commentator with a focus on the Middle East.