Protecting the Enemy

Published: 19/06/2008

Protecting the Enemy
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

This week, two obtuse and fanatic London Muslims who manifestly hate the west witnessed great British justice. Abu Qatada, a cleric close to Bin Laden was released from prison and placed under house arrest and all day curfew restrictions. He will not be deported to Jordon where he is wanted for terror attacks. As Dominic Grieve, the new Tory Shadow Home Secretary says:’ the man’s presence is an offence’. And yet, and yet, this evil man is protected by the rule of law.

So too Samina Malik, 24, who came to be known as ‘the lyrical terrorist’. Working at W.H Smith at Heathrow Airport, this Londoner in hijab and trendy denim jackets, penned sickening ( and third-rate) poems in praise of Islamicist violence and beheadings. The terrorist was her muse; she his dreamy, imaginary moll. She was convicted of possessing jihadi propaganda. Now the Court of Appeal has decided that accessing propagandist material is not unlawful, unless presumably a proven connection is established between the ideas propagated and action. Instead of outrage I hope Britons feel pride. We showed them how an upright democracy works.

In these times of extreme provocation, when understandable fears grip millions of citizens, immutable legal safeguards must be defended, should never be bent and twisted. That belief united the many people from left to right who came out against the 42 days in detention without charge, including David Davies. I sat next to him last Sunday in a castle in Kent, celebrating the civil partnership of a mutual gay friend and trust me, Davies is no softie on crime. We had such arguments. But he is right to put up a robust fight for our ancient freedoms and legal protections and to extend them to the enemies within.

Such feelgood idealism is all very well, you might say, doesn’t stop those consumed by hate and vengeance. And there’s the rub. There is no way we can be sure that these generous verdicts or the valiant protests against the 42 days will make one terrorist manqué think again, draw back from the road to hellish intent. Wisdom and contrition could follow, but I fear that for those of distorted minds and poisoned hearts, redemption is pathetic weakness. Qatada and Malik may well feel scorn and a perverted sense of victory. No matter. Justice and decency eventually weaken villainy says Shakespeare in Measure for Measure:
‘We must not make a scarecrow of the law
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
Let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror’.

Can’t say better than that.

Published in Evening Standard