Canberra: British Prime Minister David Cameron outlined plans to seize passports of British jihadists and stop them from returning after fighting overseas, while proposing landing bans on airlines that fail to comply with London’s no-fly lists. Some 500 radicalised Britons are estimated to be fighting in Iraq and Syria.
“We will shortly be introducing our own new Counter-Terrorism Bill in the UK,” Cameron said in a speech to Australia’s Parliament before travelling to the G-20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane, adding that there was “no opt-out from dealing with this.”
The bill will create “new powers for police at ports to seize passports, to stop suspects travelling and to stop British nationals returning to the UK unless they do so on our terms.” There would also be “new rules to prevent airlines that don’t comply with our no-fly lists or security screening measures from landing in the UK,” he said.
British media reports said the legislation would block individuals from returning from Syria and Iraq to Britain for at least two years unless they comply with strict measures. These could include being escorted back to Britain and then facing prosecution, bail-style reporting conditions and de-radicalisation courses.
Border guards and airport police would also be given new powers to seize passports from those they suspect of planning to travel abroad for terrorism, the reports said.
The new powers could cause legal wrangles over fears of civil liberty contraventions, but Cameron said they were necessary. “We listen carefully to what the police and security services advise us,” he said. “We think about the civil liberty implications, we think about the effect on other countries, but at the end of the day I make the choices on what I believe is necessary to keep the British public safe and I think this new power is important in that regard.”
