Thread by @AzeemIbrahim

#LondonBridge debates over prison sentences, parole, are a distraction. Real issue is our laws are unable to cater to new terrorist threat. These are not normal criminals they are traitors and we need new treason laws.

My piece in the @Telegraph 1/8

telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/0…

MI5 has identified 23K extremists in UK. 3K "persons of interest" involved in some 500 potential terror plots. It takes 20-25 security personal to monitor ONE individual so max they can subject to 24hr watch at any one time is 50!!! (according to MI5). 2/8

Clearly, this situation is not sustainable and many will slip through the cracks. New laws therefore required to recognise this new and extraordinary security challenge. Traditional offences which Britain charges potential terrorists with are not enough. 3/8

British subjects who plot to destroy the fabric of British life, aiming to kill as many people as possible should be considered not just terrorists, but traitors. They should be charged with treason. Treason, after all, essentially means betraying one’s nation. 4/8

A terrorist is not the same as criminal causing physical damage. They are seeking very specifically to rupture British security as a nation. They want to destroy Britain. That is their intention.

That deserves recognition in law, and “treason” captures it best. 5/8

The offence of treason would also bring with it concrete benefits, first and foremost of which would be automatic heavy punishments as de-radicalisation and rehab programs rarely work on committed terrorists - as #LondonBridgeAttack has demonstrated. 6/8

Britain abolished the death penalty (rightly so). But it seems logical crime of treason be automatically punishable by the nearest equivalent – a life sentence. It should mean life, without parole, or even the possibility of parole. 7/8

We should NOT even be discussing returning ISIS fighters until these new laws are enacted. We should follow Australia & New Zealand & make it clear that to aid the enemy in an armed conflict or commit terrorism will result in actual life imprisonment under our treason laws. 8/8