ISLAMIC extremists barred by the US and other countries will also be prevented from entering Britain under new anti-terrorist provisions, the London Daily Telegraph reports. British Home Secretary Charles Clarke instigated a review of his powers to exclude and deport people likely to incite terrorism, the paper reported. The newspaper added that radicals such as Yussef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric who has visited Britain from his home in Qatar, and who backed suicide bombers in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, could be stopped from entering Britain.The powers were particularly aimed at Islamic clerics who have encouraged disaffected young British Muslims to become radicalised and potential suicide bombers, the Telegraph reported. Anyone attempting to enter Britain who had been excluded from the US or the European Union would have his or her case immediately referred to Mr Clarke for a decision. Prime Minister Tony Blair's office made clear that exclusion would be automatic if it were considered that admission "would not be conducive to the public good".
The Cabinet authorised a redoubling of diplomatic efforts to reach agreement with a number of North African countries, to allow Britain to send troublemakers back to their countries of origin. Britain cannot currently deport anyone to a country where he or she may be subject to inhuman or degrading treatment, and attempts to send them back have been blocked by the courts. However, ministers believed judges would be more ready to approve deportation orders if agreement could be reached that deportees would not be tortured or imprisoned when they were repatriated, the newspaper reported.
Speaking to parliament on Wednesday, Mr Blair proposed measures including tighter entry and deportation procedures to combat what he branded an "evil ideology" embraced by the bombers. "We will look urgently at how we strengthen the procedures to exclude people from entering the UK who may incite hatred or act contrary to the public good, and at how we deport such people, if they come here, more easily," he said.