Britain to toughen rules for terror convicts after attack
Attacker who stabbed 2 before being shot dead by police was freed halfway through jail term
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Police forensic officers working outside a shop in Streatham High Road, south London, yesterday.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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LONDON • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out tougher rules on releasing people convicted of terrorism offences after an Islamist attacker injured two people in a stabbing spree days after he was set free halfway through his prison term.
Sudesh Amman, who was jailed in 2018 for possession of terrorist documents and disseminating terrorist publications, was shot dead by the police on Sunday after he went on the rampage with a stolen 25cm knife on a busy London street.
Amman had previously praised the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), shared an online Al-Qaeda magazine and encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents.
Mr Johnson said the government would announce fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences.
"Those measures will build upon the actions we have already put in place," said his interior minister Priti Patel. She said there would be legislation to end the early release of counter-terrorism offenders.
"It is right that these individuals are kept behind bars," she added.
British politicians have repeatedly discussed tougher rules on terrorism, calls that increased after a former convict killed two people and wounded three more before the police shot him dead near London Bridge in November.
Mr Johnson said that since that attack, the government had "moved quickly to introduce a package of measures to strengthen every element of our response to terrorism - including longer prison sentences and more money for the police".
Sunday's attacker, Amman, had recently been released from prison, according to the police.
Sudesh Amman (above), who was jailed in 2018 for possession of terrorist documents and disseminating terrorist publications, was shot dead by the police on Sunday after he went on a rampage with a stolen 25cm knife on the busy street. He had recently been released from prison, according to the police, and had strapped a fake bomb to his body before stabbing two people during the rampage.
He went on the rampage, with a fake bomb strapped to his body. He stabbed two people, seriously hurting a man in his 40s, while a third had minor injuries caused by shattered glass when police opened fire. Amman was under surveillance at the time of the attack by armed police, who shot him dead.
In November 2018, he pleaded guilty to possession of terrorist documents and disseminating terrorist publications, and the following month he was sentenced to more than three years in prison.
He was 17 and living at home with his mother and younger siblings when he first began committing terrorism offences, according to the authorities. The police became aware of his activities in April 2018, and he was arrested by armed officers a month later.
When officers examined his computers and phone, they found he had downloaded material about making explosives and carrying out terrorist attacks, according to prosecutors at his trial. They added that messages showed he had discussed with his family, friends and girlfriend his extreme views and desire to carry out an attack, often focused on using a knife.
In December 2017, Amman posted a picture of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a raid by United States forces in Syria in October, and told his brother in a message that "the Islamic State is here to stay".
He also described Yazidi women as slaves and said the Quran made it permissible to rape them. In another message, he encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents.
Police said Amman had shared an online Al-Qaeda magazine with his family and while in a discussion about school with a sibling, he wrote he would "rather blow myself up".
REUTERS
