Automatic release of about 50 terrorists to be stopped by new law
The bill will stop about 50 terrorists being automatically released halfway through their sentences.
Tuesday 25 February 2020 09:49, UK
About 50 terrorists will no longer be automatically released halfway through their sentences as emergency legislation becomes law later this week.
The government has rushed The Terrorist Offenders (Restriction of Early Release) Bill through parliament - days before the previously scheduled release of the next offender is due to take place.
The bill cleared the Commons earlier this month and was backed unamended in one sitting by peers in the Lords.
It is understood that Mohammed Zahir Khan, a former shopkeeper in Sunderland, was due to be released on 28 February.
He was imprisoned for four-and-a-half years in 2018 for sharing messages and material on social media that was supportive of Islamic State.
Another who was due for release in the coming weeks, according to the Henry Jackson Society think tank, was Mohammed Ghani.
Ghani, from Barnet in north London, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison in May after threatening to kill police officers.
Another was Mohammed Khilji, from northwest London, who was jailed for five years in 2018 after being found guilty of sharing beheading videos on WhatsApp, as well as footage giving advice on how to make a car bomb.
The bill was put forward by the government in the wake of the Streatham terror attack in south London earlier this month.
Sudesh Amman, 20, stabbed two people a week after being released halfway through his sentence for spreading extremist material.
Usman Khan, who killed two people in the London Bridge attack last year, was also released early.
Despite misgivings from opposition parties of the retrospective nature of the legislation, it was given an unopposed second reading in the Lords and passed its committee stage unamended.
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Lord Keen of Elie, speaking for the government, said parliament must end a system that allowed a "dangerous terrorist to be released from prison by automatic process of law before the end of their sentence".
He said automatic halfway release was "simply not right in all cases" and swift action was required because of the looming release of a number of offenders.
Lord Keen added that he recognised that applying the change retrospectively was an "unusual step", but insisted it reflected the "unprecedented gravity of the situation" and the "danger posed to the public".