Anderson questions proposed terror exclusion plan in new counter-terror bill

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The government’s independent reviewer of terrorism laws, David Anderson QC has questioned a proposed plan in the recently announced counter-terrorism and security bill on Wednesday which aims to exclude British terror suspects from the U.K. if they go abroad to fight with extremist groups.

Home Secretary Theresa May has introduced the fresh bill today that is designed to crack down on Britons wanting to travel to Syria and Iraq to fight, and to prevent veterans of those conflicts from returning unless they agree to comply with the authorities under Temporary Exclusion Orders.

Ms May has indicated that the proposed measures aim to minimise the terrorism risk to the lowest level of threat posed to Britain.

However, Mr Anderson has claimed that the new anti-terror laws are “nothing like as dramatic” as proposed earlier this year as some of the powers to stop British jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria were ill-thought out and would not work in practice.

He has told the Joint Committee on Human Rights: “My understanding is that somebody who is seeking to fly home may be presented with an order at the check-in desk and told ‘you are more than welcome to come home.’

“But when you come home you will have to comply with certain obligations’ and those are the obligations in the order.

“Now, no doubt there will be cases about whether that is lawful, but certainly in terms of restricting the right of abode, it is nothing like as dramatic as what appeared to be originally proposed.”

He has also argued that the government would seek a better way to deal with the issue.

The proposed bill also faced remarkable criticism from Muslim rights campaigners and civil liberties groups who have raised concern about measures not subject to review by the courts and may lead to abuse in future.

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