Forget Terrorists' Rights, Home Secretary. What About Our Rights, Asks David Mellor
31 March 2017, 11:09
The government must take away the passports of the hate preachers who are turning footsoldiers like Khalid Masood into mass murderers. And then must consider the human rights of prospective victims, not the rights of the terrorists, says David Mellor.
A week is a long time in politics, said Harold Wilson. A week is a long time in terrorism, says David Mellor.
A week ago it was all Khalid Masood. Now you hardly read his name. Is that because all of the issues arising from his murderous spree have been resolved? Or have they all been swept under the carpet?
I know what I think. The latter of course.
Who radicalised him? Where did it happen? In Luton or Birmingham, both hotbeds of Jihadi activity, and both places where he lived; in prison; or online. We need to know.
Is there a Jihadi factory here in the UK capable of turning out more mass murderers like Masood?
Masood was a footsoldier; a convenient idiot ready to kill and be killed for the cause.
But what about those who set him up? What about those who turned him from a common criminal and thug into a religious fanatic, willing to commit mass murder for his beliefs.
What about them, Ms Rudd? A question worth asking, if anyone can be bothered, because so far answers come there none.
Our hopelessly inexperienced and out of her depth Home Secretary, must be praying that all this will just go away. And, if you just look at the newspapers, with the exception of what I regard as a side issue about social media, it has.
She will only get her act together when placed under relentless pressure. The worry is we can’t be bothered to do that because our attention span is so short.
But unless we do something about the Jihadi indoctrinators, another Masood will come along, and then another, and then another.
I am sure the intelligence services do their best to stem the tide of terrorist activities, and have successes to report, on which we should congratulate them.
But can they ever do enough, without further action, to stop men like Masood slipping through their net? Well, manifestly not, because they looked at him, and dropped him, thinking him unworthy of their time and trouble. A mistake.
Which is why action has to be taken against the people who carefully try to stay the right side of the law, whilst indoctrinating men like Masood.
Most of them will have come here from abroad. Most of them will have been granted asylum, or leave to remain, or even British passports.
But that which is given, can also be taken away. When even the Germans are stripping radicals of their passports, why don’t we.
Of course it would cause a stir. Of course a lot of people would be up in arms. Of course there would be an outcry. There would be lots of shouting about human rights. Whose human rights? Well, the human rights of the radicals, and the fanatics, who think they have a right to spew out their hate, infect others with it, whilst at the same time enjoying the comforts and our hospitality of our over generous land, that’s who.
I am more concerned about the human rights of those who, if we don’t do something effective, will end up as the victims of the next Khalid Masood, and the next, and the next.
It’s their human rights that should bother you, Ms Rudd. Not much evidence of that, so far.
