Muslims urged to raise concerns about Britain's terrorism legislation

The country’s new terrorism watchdog declared that he will be ready to recommend the abolition of unnecessary laws
Max Hill QC said he wanted to hear from those groups, including Muslims, most affected by the legislation (file photo)
Shutterstock / DecemberDah

Muslims were today urged to raise their concerns about Britain’s terrorism legislation as the country’s new terrorism watchdog declared that he will be ready to recommend the abolition of unnecessary laws.

Max Hill QC said he wanted to “take soundings from all quarters” about the way that counter-terror powers were working and particularly wanted to hear from those groups, including Muslims, most affected by the legislation.

He said that he would also be examining the Terrorism Acts, and other relevant legislation, to assess whether there were offences “introduced in knee jerk reaction” to terrorist atacks that could be abolished because they were either little-used or had become outdated.

He added that his own experience as a former prosecutor of terrorism cases, during which he secured the conviction of the failed 21/7 bombers and the jailing last year of two Luton-based Islamic State supporters over a plot to kill a US serviceman, had shown him that parts of the law were “less fit for purpose” than others.

Mr Hill’s comments to the Evening Standard came in his first interview since being appointed this week as the country’s new independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

He said that he was determined to listen to views from all sides, including critics, of the existing laws and to help ensure that the needs of national security and public safety continued to be balanced with the need to avoid excessive infringements on individual liberty.

He added: “This is a golden opportunity to take soundings from all quarters and all parties to the debate. I would like to hear from those, particulary Muslims, whom the terrorism laws impinge on most.

‘I will be prepared to recommend the abolition of redundant or unnecessary parts of terrorism legislation that have been either introduced in knee jerk reaction to significant events, or have turned out to be of little use in actual cases.”

As well as prosecuting terrorists, Mr Hill has also secured the conviction of other offenders, including Ricky and Danny Preddie, the killers of Peckham schoolboy Damilola Taylor. He was also the prosecutor in the unsuccessful attempt in 2015 to convict Met firearms officer Anthony Long for shooting dead Azelle Rodney during a 2005 police operation in Mill Hill to stop a suspected armed robbery.

Mr Hill emphasised, however, that he had also acted for the defence in many cases, including murder trials at the Old Bailey and representing a City banker under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for allegedly rigging the Forex foreign exhange market, and would be robustly independent in his new role as terrorism watchdog.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in