Thread by @aliciakearns

Thread on sentencing of extremists & the risk they pose.

PM is absolutely right to end near-automatic release for sexual offenders at the half way point. I want to see the same for terrorists and extremists like Anjem Choudary who should never have been released early prison 1/

Thanks to the new Counter Terrorism & Security Act the Sentencing Council is planning to double the minimum sentence for terrorists from five to ten years. But we also need to end mid-way release due to the gravity of the crimes and the threat they pose 2/

Choudary was released from prison in 2018, despite having served just half his sentence for publicly pledging allegiance to Daesh (ISIS) & encouraging Brits to join the terror group & make Britain their enemy 3/

A report by @FightExtremism shows how insidiously effective Choudary has been in the past, and why he continues to pose a threat to our security and stability. The gravity of crimes should have seen him serve the full sentence, and the his continued ability to endanger us all 4/

@FightExtremism Of 110 people the report documented Choudary as engaging with, 18 carried out terror attacks, 50 attempted to carry out terror attacks, 19 became —or attempted to become— foreign terrorist fighters in Syria for Daesh & other, and 36 are Islamist propagandists or recruiters 5/

@FightExtremism From 1999-2016 he & his mentor were linked to almost a quarter of all publicly-known terror plots in the UK. Extremists directly linked to Choudary include Lee Rigby murderers Michael Adebolajo & Michael Adebowale, & London Bridge attackers Rachid Redouane & Khuram Shazad Butt 6/

@FightExtremism Choudary is out under surveillance, but since his release say reports al-Muhajiroun is regrouping in London, Bedfordshire, and Luton and enjoying a revival.

As well as doubling the minimum sentences for terrorists, I want to see the @Conservatives also end mid-way release 7/7.