Blair out to deport radicals
Policies would target those who `foster hatred'By Kevin Sullivan and Fred Barbash, The Washington Post. The New York Times contributed to this report
Published August 6, 2005
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, responding to last month's deadly bombings in London, outlined a series of unprecedented steps that would allow Britain to deport and exclude foreign nationals who promote or incite extremist violence or are "fostering hatred."
Among those excluded would be non-citizen clerics "not suitable to preach." In addition, Blair said, the government was preparing orders allowing it to shut down places of worship used as centers for "fomenting extremism."
Some of the steps may require legislation or court involvement. Others can be done by government order. Blair acknowledged the potential controversy that could arise from the proposals.
"The rules of the game are changing," Blair said in an 80-minute news conference devoted almost entirely to the issue of terrorism, which has taken on new urgency in Britain since a July 7 bombing that killed four bombers and 52 other people and injured 700 more.
Blair noted that Britain has been generous with asylum seekers and refugees from around the globe but said public opinion is demanding more care in accepting them.
"We're angry about these extremists," he said. "We're angry about them abusing our good nature and our toleration."
Blair announced that two Islamic organizations, Hizb ut-Tahrir and Al-Muhajiroun, would be banned in Britain.
Leaders of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which also has been banned in Germany, have denounced the bombings and asserted that they are non-violent.
Al-Muhajiroun's spiritual leader is Sheik Omar Bakri, a Syrian-born imam who has expressed "understanding" for the bombings because of Blair's policies in Iraq and the Middle East.
The changes Blair announced strike a harsher note in the ongoing debate here about the balance between civil liberties and national security. Blair said he was not trying to undermine religious tolerance or "legitimate political debate" but rather wanted to remove those who are "actively engaged in inciting" people to violence.
He denounced as "appalling rubbish" the opinions of those who support the bombings as legitimate expression of Muslim anger at the policies of Britain and the United States.
Blair said some of the new policies would be implemented immediately while others are under "urgent examination."
Britain's home secretary would be empowered to deport or exclude anyone "fostering hatred, advocating violence to further a person's beliefs or justifying or validating such violence."
Blair said a list will be made of "specific extremist Web sites, bookshops, centers, networks" and organizations and that "active engagement" with any of them would be a "trigger" for possible deportation.
As outlined in a release from the prime minister's office, the government will propose new anti-terrorism legislation that creates an offense of "condoning or glorifying terrorism ... anywhere, not just in the U.K."
"Anyone who has participated in terrorism or has anything to do with it anywhere will automatically be refused," the statement said.
Blair also said the government would:
- Consider stripping citizenship from naturalized Britons "engaged in extremism."
- Establish, within the Muslim community in Britain, a commission to advise on how to better integrate into society "those parts of the community presently inadequately integrated."
- Consider closure of places of worship used as centers "for fomenting extremism" and, in consultation with Muslim leaders, "draw up a list of those not suitable to preach who will be excluded from Britain."
Bakri, who has frequently shrugged off allegations that he preaches extremism, criticized Blair's proposals Friday, particularly suggestions that he could be targeted for remarks made years ago.
"If they believed what I said was illegal, why didn't they arrest me at the time? They know my work well," he told The Associated Press. He said he works to address "the anger and frustration so many youth feel."
He said if asked to go, he would go to Lebanon rather than challenge the decision.
Britain has been criticized for lagging its European neighbors in responding to terrorism. Since last month's attacks, France has expelled two extremist Muslim prayer leaders and plans to ship home eight others. Italian authorities deported eight Palestinian imams.
As a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Britain is not allowed to deport people to a country where they may face torture or death. Blair is hoping to win pledges from countries that deportees would not be subjected to inhumane treatment. An agreement already has been reached with Jordan, and London is talking to Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt.
Also Friday, police charged three men with failing to disclose information about the whereabouts of a suspect in the failed July 21 London bomb attacks, the AP reported. Police did not name the suspect. The wife and sister-in-law of Hamdi Issac, a suspected July 21 attacker, face similar charges, as does another man.
Source:
The Chicago Tribune 
