Cameron Announces Travel Curbs on U.K. Islamic Extremists

By Thomas Penny

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

David Cameron, U.K. Prime Minister, said Internet companies have a “social... Read More

Prime Minister David Cameron will introduce legislation to stop Islamic State extremists returning to Britain and to ban airlines that don’t provide data on passengers to U.K. authorities.
The premier announced the measures, which will make up a bill to be put before lawmakers later this month, in a speech to the Australian Parliament in Canberra today. The bill, to be fast-tracked through the legislative process, will also allow the seizure of passports from people suspected of planning to travel to Syria or Iraq to fight.
“We have to deal with the threat of foreign fighters planning attacks against
our people,” Cameron said. The law will include “new powers for police at ports to seize passports, to stop suspects traveling and to stop British nationals returning to the U.K. unless they do so on our terms,” he said.
The proposed legislation has been agreed with Cameron’s Liberal Democrat coalition partners, who cast doubt on the plans when first mooted in September, the premier’s office said. Fighters will have their passports canceled while outside Britain if they do not agree to return and have their activities monitored and regularly report to police.
An estimated 500 Britons have traveled to fight with Islamic State, amid suspicions that some may return to plan terrorist attacks in Britain. More than 12,000 foreign fighters have gone to Syria from more than 80 countries since the conflict there began, the New York-based Soufan Group, a security research firm, estimated in a June report. About 7,000 of those were from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.

No Sub-Contracting

“It would be completely wrong to think we could entirely sub-contract the task of protecting the streets of Britain to the air forces of our allies,” Cameron said in a speech on Nov. 10, referring to bombing raids by a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Cameron has said he sees a case for extending the U.K. mission over Iraq to Syria, though he does not have parliamentary approval for such a move.
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 traveling for terrorist-related activity. Passports can currently only be seized with the permission of the home secretary.
The canceling of passports of jihadis outside the U.K. would apply to those who refused to abide by conditions on their movements, Cameron’s office said. Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve described that measure when it was first suggested by the government in September as a “non-starter” as it would breach international law.

Exclusion Order

The suspected extremists would be placed under an exclusion order and if they tried to enter the U.K. secretly would face as long as five years in prison for breaching the order.
“When you’re facing an existential challenge and a challenge as great as the one we face with these Islamist extremists you need additional powers as well as simply the criminal law,” Cameron told reporters after the speech. “It’s very important to make sure we give our police and security services the tools they need to keep our country safe.”
The legislation would also compel airlines to collect and pass data on passengers to the U.K. 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 U.K. if they refuse to cooperate, Cameron’s office said.
Britain is discussing the proposed regulations with Germany, where data-protection laws bar its carriers from passing on passenger lists, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing Mark Sedwill, the most senior official in the U.K. Home Office.

Recruiting Material

Cameron said Internet companies have a “social responsibility” to remove terrorist recruiting material posted online.
“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. “This is their social responsibility. And we expect them to live up to it.”
The U.K. prime minister also used today’s speech to appeal for Britain and Australia to work together to tackle the causes of extremism.

‘Root Cause’

“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.”
The battle against extremists can be won through challenging their ideology, he told lawmakers including Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
“Your country and my country are places where people can take part, have their say and achieve their dreams. Places where people feel free to say, ‘Yes, I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am Christian, but I am also a Briton or an Australian too,’” Cameron said. “That sense of identity, that voice, that stake in society all come directly from standing up for values and our beliefs in open economies and open societies.”