Extremist fails in legal bid to dodge UK counter-terror course

‘Threat to national security’ who played chess on deradicalisation programme had claimed breach of human rights

The case was described as being unprecedented by a British High Court judge. AP

A senior Al Qaeda-linked leader who played chess during deradicalisation sessions has failed in his legal bid to stop attending a UK counterterrorism course.

The extremist, referred to in court papers as QX, had taken his case to London’s High Court, claiming it was against his human rights to be forced to sign into police stations daily and to attend the weekly programme.

The court heard he has refused to engage with the courses and has instead played chess and read books.

Britain classified him as a threat to national security after learning he travelled to Syria repeatedly and was a senior leader in a militant group affiliated to Al Qaeda.

Mrs Justice Judith Farbey, sitting at the High Court, has rejected his case for a review of his monitoring conditions and ruled they do not breach his human rights.

“In my judgment, the Secretary of State is properly able to put her case on the basis that the claimant has been and is a person with an ideological commitment to a terrorist group that seeks to carry out violent attacks on the West and on the United Kingdom,” she said.

“He has held a significant leadership role in Syria. Since his return to the United Kingdom, he has failed to engage with the mentors and theologians who have been provided to rehabilitate him under the statutory scheme.

“The Secretary of State may properly contend that, for these reasons, the claimant remains a threat to national security and that the section 9 obligations are necessary and proportionate.”

The married father-of-three had been banned from the UK for two years in November 2018 because of the risk he posed to national security after he travelled to Syria and joined an Al Qaeda-linked group, according to court documents.

The extremist, who was described by the government as a “significant terrorism-related risk”, was arrested in Istanbul and deported back to Britain in 2019.

It had to accept the return of QX despite the ban, and told him to report every day to a police station and to attend a two-hour session weekly.

The programme has proved controversial after terrorist Usman Khan, who attended the course, later launched a murderous attack in the UK capital last December, less than a year after his release from prison for plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange.

QX claimed the sessions served no “useful purpose” and that he barely took part, saying he feared information he passed on would be used against him during a criminal investigation, the High Court was told. He faces criminal charges over three alleged breaches of the order, the court was told.

“Although I am obliged to attend the appointments with [the mentor], I am not under any compulsion to speak to him,” QX’s statement to the court read.

“This has been confirmed by [the Secretary of State] … As I am not engaging in the sessions, they are a complete waste of both mine and my mentor’s time.”

In a statement, the Secretary of State said the failure of QX to engage was a “national security risk”.

“Many of the benefits pertain regardless of QX’s engagement, and in any event, removing the requirement on the basis of non-engagement would create an incentive for subjects to decline to participate which would be damaging to national security,” it said.

“The mentoring obligation is designed to support an individual’s re-integration into UK society. We assess that QX has not taken steps to re-integrate into UK society and has not achieved reintegration.”

Britain applied for a temporary exclusion order in 2018 after QX was assessed to have travelled to Syria and “aligned with a group that is aligned to Al Qaeda” and showed a strong commitment to its ideology.

The government assessment said that “QX poses a significant terrorism-related risk to members of the public”.

“An individual aligning with an Al Qaeda-aligned group will be subject to radicalisation and desensitised to violence, so this ideological commitment is likely to remain, or even grow stronger,” the government said.

It said the threat included carrying out “violent attacks”, recruiting UK operatives or providing support to Al Qaeda.

The 2015 law that introduced the exclusion orders allowed for the return of the barred individual in a few narrow circumstances, including deportation.