Emergency legislation to end early release of terrorists
Written by News on 03/02/2020
The government will introduce emergency legislation to prevent terrorists from automatically being released from prison before serving all of their sentence.
Justice secretary Robert Buckland also said those jailed for terror offences will have to appear before the parole board before they can be released.
He made the announcement the day after Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after stabbing two people in what is believed to have been an Islamist-inspired attack in Streatham, south London on Sunday afternoon.
Amman, from Harrow, northwest London, had been released from prison a week before the attack after serving time for spreading extremist material.
Mr Buckland confirmed he had automatically been released half way through his three years and four month sentence and had not had to go before a parole board.
Under the emergency legislation, terror prisoners, including ones currently in prison, will not be allowed to be released until they have served two thirds of their sentence and not until the parole board has agreed.
“Yesterday’s appalling incident makes the case plainly for immediate action,” Mr Buckland told the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.
“We will therefore introduce emergency legislation to ensure an end to terrorist offenders getting released automatically having served half of their sentence with no check or review.”
He added that the parole board will be given strengthened functions “to deal even more effectively with the specific risk that terrorists poe to public safety”.
Mr Buckland also said the government will review whether current maximum penalties and frameworks for terror offenders are “appropriate”.
He referred to November’s terror attack at Fishmongers’ Hall by London Bridge when five people were stabbed, two fatally, by Usman Khan.
Khan had automatically been released from prison in 2018 after serving half a sentence for helping to establish a terrorist camp on his family’s land in Kashmir and plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange.
Mr Buckland said a man in his 40s who was stabbed in the Streatham attack is recovering well after fighting for his life.
He said a woman in her 20s who was hurt by glass remains as police shot Amman is still in hospital but recovering.
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(c) Sky News 2020: Emergency legislation to end early release of terrorists
