Home secretary set to detail clampdown on hate preachers
Charles Clarke is set to launch a new clampdown against “preachers of intolerance and hatred”.
Following extensive consultation after the London bombings in July, which killed 56 people and wounded 700 others, the home secretary is to publish details of the new powers to tackle terrorism and religious extremism.
This week, he will outline plans to deport or detain those intent exploiting “the openness of our society to oppress others” and refuse asylum to claimants linked to terrorism.
The Home Office is also considering new laws to close places of worship used as centres for “fomenting extremism”.
With the “rules of the game” changed at home and abroad, the government would toughen laws to defeat terrorism and extremism to protect best “the traditions of tolerance” in Britain, he said.
After gaining assurances that deportees would not face torture or ill-treatment in destination countries, Mr Clarke is expected to announce the deportation of 10 extremist clerics and supporters of terrorism. This includes Mohamed al-Massari, a Saudi dissident, propagandist and critic of the Iraq war.
He has already banned Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, currently in Lebanon, from returning to the UK.
The Home Office has been consulting with Muslim leaders across Britain on the new “shared challenges” which have arisen in the wake of the London bomb attacks.
