'Update Treason Laws To Tackle Terrorism', Says Report

There is a call for treason laws in the UK to be updated so it can be used to prosecute terrorists.

Britons who betray the country through acts of terror or by aiding hostile nations such as Russia should be dealt with as traitors, according to a Policy Exchange report.

It warned a wave of terrorists is coming up for release and claimed the country would be safer if they had been jailed for betrayal.

Treason laws, which date back to 1351 are now unworkable says the report, whose authors include Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who Chairs the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and Labour MP Khalid Mahmood.

The last person to be convicted under the Act was William Joyce, more commonly known as Lord Haw-Haw, who was hanged in 1946 for assisting Nazi Germany.

In a foreword to the report, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Judge wrote:

"If a citizen of this country chooses to fight with the Taliban in Afghanistan against British forces, his crime is more than terrorism. It is treason, and should be prosecuted accordingly."

It comes after Government's decision to drop death penalty objections in the case of Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh - two men accused of being members of an Islamic State cell dubbed the 'Beatles', who face being sent to the US for trial.

The report suggests a new offence would "provide a suitable ground" on which to prosecute the pair.

Report co-author Tom Tugendhat: 'Treason today is about defending our society'.

Some 193 offenders were jailed between 2006 and 2017 for terrorism offences, and more than 80 of them are due for release before the end of the year, according to the think tank.

"If they had been convicted of treason and imprisoned for life, the UK would be considerably safer," the report said.

Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: "Punishing treason properly is important to signal clearly that our communities condemn betrayal.

"The sentences of imprisonment imposed on British citizens who choose to aid ISIS, or similar groups, are often manifestly inadequate.

"Sentencing traitors to life imprisonment would recognise the gravity of the wrong they have committed and would help protect the public."

The UK's terror laws fail to recognise the "wrongfulness of betrayal", according to the report.

Any new offence should cover the actions of British citizens overseas, it said.

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat said: "British citizens who aid groups like ISIS, groups that intend to carry out attacks against the UK, or against UK forces are deployed abroad, betray our country and should be condemned.

"The law must be written to ensure they can be stopped and their betrayal is recognised as a distinct crime."

"In an age of rising great power competition, when states like Russia are attacking the UK in ways falling short of outright armed conflict, it is vital that our law ensures that citizens assisting hostile states or seeking to undermine the UK, can be prosecuted separate from any violence they may use."