Changing terror legal guidelines may result in curbs on freedom of speech | Politics | News | EUROtoday

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Police chiefs should keep away from “near silence” within the wake of atrocities to stop conspiracy theories spreading, the phobia watchdog has revealed.

Jonathan Hall KC warned others will fill the vacuum if officers “do not take the lead in providing clear, accurate and sober details”.

False data unfold on social media within the hours after the Southport killings led to riots, mass protests and public fury.

Mr Hall rejected Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s requires the terrorism definition to be widened to incorporate mass killings, warning it may hit free speech and create a brand new “landscape” the place hundreds extra individuals are labelled terrorist offenders.

He declared a brand new offence ought to be created to cowl planning to hold out slaughters, with a most penalty of life behind bars.

Speaking about whether or not acts of utmost violence, the place a number of individuals are killed, ought to be declared terrorism, Mr Hall stated: “In unclear cases, especially if the attacker has been killed or makes no comment in police, police may be dependent on the outcome of searches of electronic devices.

“A clear and honest explanation to the public would go something like this: ‘Because of the nature of the attack, Counter Terrorism Police are involved in this investigation alongside the local force.

“Investigators are keeping an open mind, but there is insufficient evidence at the moment to state why the attack was carried out and whether terrorism was involved’.

“In the digital era, if the police do not take the lead in providing clear, accurate and sober details about an attack like Southport, others will.

“Social media is a source of news for many people and near-silence in the face of horrific events of major public interest is no longer an option.

“Following Southport, the disinformation generated on social media, combined with widespread allegations of a ‘cover-up’, risked far more prejudice to any trial than the placement of undisputed facts about the attacker in the public domain.”

The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s findings come as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer stated Britain faces a brand new risk from “extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms” following the Southport murders.

Sir Keir stated the legislation and framework for responding wanted to be applicable to the “new threat” and no matter authorized adjustments had been vital could be made.

Axel Rudakubana was jailed for at least 52 years for the murders of three ladies and tried murders of eight different youngsters, who can’t be named for authorized causes, class teacher Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July final yr.

Despite contact with state companies resembling Prevent, aimed toward countering terrorism, authorities did not cease the assault which claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

Rudakubana’s acts of utmost violence weren’t thought of terrorism underneath present legal guidelines as a result of there was no proof of his goal being to advance an ideological trigger as set out within the terror definition.

Describing the necessity for a brand new offence, Mr Hall stated: “I therefore recommend that the Government considers bringing forward legislation to create a new offence where an individual, with the intention of killing two or more persons, engages in any conduct in preparation for giving effect to this intention.

“The maximum sentence should be life imprisonment.”

Mr Hall stated “Cold realism is needed in the face of any suggestion that it is possible to reverse-engineer from the atrocious online viewing of the Southport attacker to identify a point at which he could have been stopped from knowledge of his browsing history alone.

“Online rhetoric rarely reflects online intentions. Many young people view and share terrible images of violence and sexual harm online, including terrorism content and make dreadful boasts about their intentions, but only the tiniest fraction of these will take real world steps to violence.

“There is no supercomputer or algorithm that can magically scan all online communications and tell who is an attacker and who is a fantasist.”

“Just because a person reads something does not mean he is persuaded by the cause presented in the material.”

Widening the terrorism definition any additional may result in hundreds extra folks being labelled terrorism – even these sharing violent warfare footage.

Mr Hall added: “Such is the functional importance of the terrorism definition, that redefinition would alter the landscape.

“It would danger main false positives – the prosecution of people that by no stretch of the creativeness are terrorists – and prolong terrorism legal responsibility into novel terrain.

“People swapping violent war footage would be at risk of encouraging terrorism, resulting in unacceptable restrictions on freedom of expression.”

He added that the present “very wide” definition relies on the discretion of the police and authorities on deciding who to arrest and prosecute.

“It has been my experience that this discretion has been exercised capably and well, so that individuals are not exposed to irrationality, heavy-handedness or bias.

“But this can be a product of a mature and outlined system working with a well-known threshold. Altering the brink wouldn’t solely broaden the attain of terrorism laws however would enhance the opportunity of inaccurate use and, in idea, abuse.”

He said for some cases it will be clear to investigators the attack was for “purely private motives” and saying it is not treated as terrorism makes “good sense to take action”.

He referenced the case of Nicholas Prosper, 19, who murdered his mother and two siblings and was on his was to carry out a mass shooting at his old primary school when he was stopped by police.

A loaded shotgun was found hidden in bushes nearby, with a bag of more than 30 cartridges, when officers spotted him in Bramingham Road, Luton.

There is not a specific offence that he could be charged with for planning the school shooting because his plot would not be defined as terrorism.

“The key level to make is that terrorism laws will not be the UK’s fundamental safety towards this form of attacker: what counts is gun management,” he said.

He added of school shootings and young copycats that it is “foreseeable” that other types of violent attacks will start a copycat craze, “more than likely amongst the cohort of remoted usually bullied youngsters with poor psychological well being, neurodivergence or persona dysfunction for whom grudges and grievances grow to be causes for violence.

“Few will be terrorists applying the definition.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2026326/keir-starmer-terror-laws-free-speech