British jihadists to be banned from UK for two years: Cameron

CANBERRA — British jihadists who fight for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq will be barred from returning to the country for at least two years to prevent terror attacks, said Prime Minister David Cameron as he unveiled a raft of new anti-terror laws, including powers to strip teenage jihadists of their passports and bar airlines from landing in the United Kingdom if they fail to provide passenger information.

Mr Cameron made the announcement in an address to the Australian Parliament yesterday, in which he said Britain had to take action to deal with the threat posed by “foreign fighters planning attacks against our people”.

Britain’s security threat level was raised to its second-highest level in August due to the risks posed by Islamic State fighters returning from Iraq and Syria. Security analysts say foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria for the Sunni extremist group now number in the thousands.

“We have to confront this threat at its source,” Mr Cameron said in Canberra, before heading to Brisbane for the Group of Twenty Leaders Summit.

The new measures would allow border officials to seize passports for 30 days if they have a reasonable suspicion their holders, including those under 18, are travelling for terrorist-related activity. Passports can currently only be seized with the permission of the Home Secretary.

Fighters will have their passports cancelled while outside Britain if they do not agree to return and have their activities monitored and regularly report to police.

Mr Cameron first mooted the new laws in September. The measures will make up a Bill to be put before lawmakers later this month.

The rise of Islamist militants in Britain has been a growing concern since four Britons — two of whom had been to Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan — killed 52 people in suicide bomb attacks in London in July 2005.

The murder last year of an off-duty soldier, Lee Rigby, on a London street by two British Muslim converts exacerbated the concerns.

The United States is pushing for the United Nations to adopt international standards to deal with foreign fighters in Middle East conflicts and the threat they could pose when they return to their home countries.

Britain is also focused on what Mr Cameron termed the new and pressing challenge of getting extremist material taken down from the Internet. “In the UK we are pushing companies to do more, including strengthening filters, improving reporting mechanisms and being more proactive in taking down this harmful material,” he said.

The legislation would also compel airlines to collect and pass data on the passengers to the UK electronically, so border officials can intervene quickly to stop people on “no- fly” lists from boarding planes. Airlines would be responsible for identifying and excluding passengers banned from flying into Britain or face fines, and could be banned from the UK if they refuse to cooperate, Mr Cameron’s office said.

The Prime Minister also used yesterday’s speech to appeal for the two countries to work together to tackle the causes of extremism.

‘’The root cause of the challenge we face is the extremist narrative,” he said. “We must confront this extremism in all its forms. We must ban extremist preachers from our countries. We must root out extremism from our schools, universities and prisons.” AGENCIES