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London Mayor Says British Muslim Fighters Should Not Be Prosecuted
LONDON, Nov. 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - London Mayor Ken Livingstone said that British Muslims who reportedly went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban should not face prosecution when they return home.
"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," Livingstone said in an interview published Saturday in the London
Daily Telegraph. "Of course, I disagree with them, but there are only about a dozen of them."
He said the West should understand that they and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network fed off a real sense of injustice in the Middle East.
"You could destroy al-Qaeda and chop up bin Laden into little bits, but unless you resolve that festering sore, there'll be another terrorist along next year," warned Livingstone. "The terrorists feed off a genuine injustice. You're not going to have 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."
British authorities have threatened to try any returning British Muslims on a range of charges from terrorism to treason, which carries a life sentence.
There has been speculation that up to 200 British Muslims have gone to support the Taliban. Three British Muslims were reported killed in Afghanistan late last month.
However, Zaki Badawi, president of London's Muslim College, said that he doubted that any British Muslims were fighting for the Taliban, the London daily newspaper,
The Independent, reported.
"There are lots of stories about it and every time they claim somebody is fighting, then we discover them somewhere in Pakistan," Badawi said in an interview on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio.
According to The Independent, British security sources said Monday that Special Branch detectives and immigration officers were stationed at ports and airports to detain any British supporters of al-Qaeda as soon as they set foot in Britain.
They could be prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws that ban membership in Osama bin Laden's network and arms training for the purpose of "terrorism." Some could even be prosecuted for treason, although lawyers believe it would be very difficult to secure a conviction.
The clampdown on British citizens allegedly fighting for the Taliban comes after reports that some Muslim fighters had flown out to help fight anti-Taliban forces. A British security source said earlier: "There is a whole framework of legislation that we could use to deal with these people-treason would be at the extreme end of the scale."
Intelligence agencies, including MI6, the Special Branch, and the Metropolitan Police Anti-Terrorist Branch, have the names of some British passport-holders suspected of fighting for the Taliban, but further details are expected to emerge as prisoners in Afghanistan are questioned.
It is also widely believed that many of the British Muslim citizens who went to Afghanistan following U. S.-led strikes aimed at giving a hand in humanitarian aid efforts.
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