Nearly 400 charged with terrorism in UK
Regional-UK, Politics, 10/31/2006

Nearly 400 people have been charged with terrorist offenses during the past five years, the home secretary, John Reid revealed today.

Speaking at a conference for business leaders in London, Reid said that that since the 9/11 attacks in the US, 387 suspected terrorists or sympathizers had been charged under the Terrorism Act and other criminal legislation.

Of those, 214 had since been convicted and another 98 were awaiting trial. This, he said, was an "indication of the scale of the threat that we face." "In response to it, the struggle has to be on every level and with every person. It is easy to forget just how deep and ongoing the struggle is." The home secretary argued that at the core of the struggle was a battle of ideas and he called for the public, private and voluntary sectors to work with the government to "advance our values of guarded openness and liberty in defiance of the terrorist menace." With regard to business involvement, he proposed setting up a new "innovation forum" to boost cooperative work between the different sectors.

"It is vital that our enterprises sustain the delivery of innovation at a pace that outstrips our adversaries," Reid told the conference organised by a technology company, Smiths Group.

He told business leaders that they played a vital role in creating the security and resilience required to defeat terrorism.

Previous Stories:
  Britain is top Al-Qaida target, says report   (10/19/2006)
  UK foreign policy alienating Muslims: Lib Dems   (10/12/2006)
  Muslims most disadvantaged in Britain - survey   (10/6/2006)

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