Picture: Index on Censorship
Faizel Patel – 14/10/2020
Advocacy Group Cage UK says the Terrorism Act 2000 in the United Kingdom has taken a life of its own, twenty years after being first introduced.
According to Cage, the Terrorism Act 2000 introduced in July the same year was passed on the back of anti-migrant sentiment.
Cage publicly released a report examining the damage Terrorism legislation has had on the legal system over since the introduction of the act.
Speaking to Radio Islam, CageUK’s Anas Mustapha says the terrorism act has introduced new legislation nearly biannually for the past twenty years.
“The principles of justice such as being innocent until proven guilty, transparent judiciary, the independent trust, due process rights, they’ve all been undermined and eroded. Today we are witnessing a very right wing government in place in 10 Downing Street who are intentionally standing at the end of the destruction of these particular laws and pushing it much further ahead in way that were unanticipated before.”
Mustapha says the terrorism laws has created a two tier justice systems that hones in on anti-Muslim sentiment.
“They’ve validated and in fact given a seal of approval for the anti-Muslim sentiment and xenophobia. Muslims have been facing the brunt of it. We have the prevent policy which targets particularly Muslim beliefs and aspects of Muslim belief. You find kids referred to government programmes for deradicalization because they’ve decided to support Palestine or request a prayer room in their schools.”
Cage says it is also concerned about the welfare of US journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem, and his driver Abu Muhammad, who were taken into custody by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Thursday night in the northern Syrian town of Atmeh.
Bilal has been reporting from rebel-held Syria where he has resided since 2012 and runs the only consistent English-language news outlet in the region, OGN.
Listen to the interview with Anas Mustapha
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