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Politics : America Under Siege: The End of Innocence -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joseph krinsky who wrote (10939)	11/24/2001 7:18:27 AM
From: joseph krinsky	Respond to of 27666

Be lenient on UK's Muslim fighters, says Livingstone By Rachel Sylvester (Filed: 24/11/2001) BRITISH Muslims who flew to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban should not be prosecuted for treason if they return to this country, Ken Livingstone said yesterday. In an interview with The Telegraph the London mayor called on the police to be lenient. Ken Livingstone: called on the police to be lenient "We've got to accept that these people went off because of a deep sense of injustice about what's happening in Israel and the West Bank," he said. Police are said to be ready to prosecute up to 200 British Muslims who have gone to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban with offences ranging from involvement in terrorism to treason, which carries a life sentence. Mr Livingstone described the Taliban as "flipping mad religious nutters" who "aren't worth fighting for". However, he said the West should understand that they and the al-Qa'eda network "feed off a genuine injustice" in the Middle East. "You're not going to get young Muslims giving their life for some call for the restoration of the caliphate but they will give their life because they see their Palestinian brothers being shot," he said. "You could destroy al-Qa'eda and chop up Bin Laden into little bits, but unless you resolve that festering sore there'll be another terrorist along next year." The London-based militant Islamic group al-Muhajiroun has already condemned the threat to arrest British Muslims returning from Afghanistan, claiming that most were involved in "aid work". Mr Livingstone also joined critics of the Government's emergency anti-terrorism legislation, saying he was "very dubious" about the proposal to detain terrorist suspects without trial. "You'll be relying on MI5 and MI6 giving evidence in secret that the defendant won't be able to see. I know too much about MI5 and MI6 to have confidence in their accuracy in these things," he said. The Government this week suffered its biggest backbench rebellion of this Parliament as the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill was rushed through Parliament. Thirty-two Labour backbenchers voted against proposals that prevent the Home Secretary's decisions being challenged by judicial review. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, was forced to announce a series of last-minute concessions. He caved in to pressure from MPs to place a time limit on measures to detain terrorist suspects without trial. portal.telegraph.co.uk _______________________ This guys needs his head examined, IMO.