London: Hate preachers will be banned from British television, home secretary Theresa May signalled on Sunday night.
May condemned the BBC and other broadcasters for interviewing “disgusting” extremist cleric Anjem Choudary after the murder of soldier Lee Rigby. In a dramatic escalation of the rules on hate preachers, May said she will ask broadcasting watchdog Ofcom to step in.
Under plans to be drawn up by a new task force on extremism, Ofcom is expected to win powers to stop hate preachers appearing on television. At the moment the watchdog has the power to intervene only after an inappropriate broadcast has been made.
The move is the most dramatic attempt to gag those who peddle extremist views since the Thatcher government’s 1988 ban on IRA spokesmen being heard on television, which led to the words of Gerry Adams being read out by an actor.
May warned that thousands of extremists in Britain are “on the path” towards terrorist acts;
Police made four further arrests in 24 hours, raising fears that a far larger terror cell may have been operating in London.
Officials in Kenya — where Woolwich killer Michael Adebolajo was arrested in 2010 — claimed Britain ignored their warnings more than two years ago.
Most dramatically of all, the home secretary and senior officials indicated that the government wants to censor broadcasters from carrying interviews in which militants incite hate. May said it was inappropriate to interview Choudary — who helped form the now-banned Islamist groups Al Muhajiroun and Al Ghurabaa and is accused of helping to radicalise several terrorists — in the wake of Rigby’s death.
Choudary, 46, described Adebolajo as a man of “impeccable character” in interviews with BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News last week. May said: “I think Anjem Choudary has disgusting views and I think it is right that we look at how those views are being presented. There were many people who did indeed say, ‘What is the BBC doing interviewing Anjem Choudary?”’
A senior Home Office official said: “This is an issue the task force will now need to look at — whether a public service broadcaster thinks it is right to give a platform to views like this.”
The move could put May on a fresh collision course with the Liberal Democrats, who have already blocked her attempts to beef up the surveillance powers of the security services.
