The ban can be renewed after the two-year period, but presumably if a jihadi waits out the two years as a quiet shopkeeper in Beirut or somewhere and then reapplies with a clean record, he will then be let back in — and then he can go back to jihad. The Cameron government is restricted by its own policy stances and lack of imagination from doing anything effective to defend Britain from jihadists; instead, there is this endless parade of ridiculous half-measures, combined with obsequious pandering to Islamic supremacists and official dissimulation about the nature and magnitude of the threat. This is not going to end well.
“David Cameron: I will ban British jihadists who fight for Isil in Syria and Iraq for two years,” by Steven Swinford, the Telegraph, November 13, 2014:
British jihadists who fight for Isil in Syria and Iraq will be barred from returning to this country for at least two years to prevent terror attacks, David Cameron has announced.
The Prime Minister has unveiled a raft of new anti-terror laws including powers to strip teenage jihadists of their passports and bar airlines from landing in the UK if they fail to provide passenger information.
Mr Cameron made the announcement in an address to the Australian Parliament in which he said Britain had to take action to deal with the threat posed by “foreign fighters planning attacks against our people”.
More than 500 Britons have travelled to Iraq and Syria to take up arms with Isil, and around half of them are thought to have returned to Britain. More than 200 people have been arrested for terror threats in the past year alone.
Under new “temporary exclusion orders”, British fighters in Syria and Iraq will be barred from returning to this country unless they submit to strict conditions.
The orders, which will be signed off from the Home Secretary, would be made on the basis of “reasonable suspicion of involvement in terrorist activity”. Suspected terrorists will have their passports cancelled and be put on a “no fly list” to prevent them from returning.
Those that repeatedly try to return to Britain will be interviewed by police and either face prosecution, tough restrictions on their movements or be forced to attend de-radicalisation programmes.
It is thought that officers could travel abroad to interview suspected jihadists and determine whether they are to be banned from returning to the UK.
They will be subjected to bail-like conditions and required to attend regular interviews with police and notify the authorities of any changes in their address or contact from extremists.
The orders will last for up to two years, and can be renewed again at the end of that period. Those that attempt to return to Britain in secret will face a five year jail term under a new criminal offence.
The measure is likely to prove controversial. When Mr Cameron first raised the prospect of barring British jihadists from returning to the UK in August Dominic Grieve, the former Attorney General, said it was likely to be a “non starter”.
He pointed out that withdrawing an individual’s passport would effectively make them “stateless”, a breach of UN laws.
The new powers, which have been drawn up with the help of the current Attorney General, attempt to avoid the issue by giving people the option of returning under tough conditions….