Tag Archives: United Kingdom

Police charged Pavlo Lapshyn, 25, a Ukrainian postgraduate student, with the “terrorist-related” murder of an elderly Muslim man in Birmingham on April 29. Lapshyn is also still being questioned about two mosque bombings in the West Midlands.

Five prison officers were suspended over allegations that a “control and restraint” operation in the jail injured Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo. The suspect claimed he was “targeted” by prison staff. Police were granted an extra week to question two Ukrainian men suspected of setting off bombs near three mosques in the West Midlands.

Police arrested two men today on suspicion of involvement in bomb blasts targeting mosques in Walsall and Tipton on June 21; the suspects, aged 22 and 25, are described as eastern European. Police also searched a mosque in Wolverhampton today for an explosive device reportedly “activated” on June 28.

The independent reviewer of terror laws reported that the UK terror threat is now “more complicated” due to a trend toward “smaller and less organized” plots, but noted that in three recent plots “the ring leaders had either trained in Pakistan or had been to Pakistan and had contact with al-Qaeda.” The current threat level […]

Prime Minister Cameron is said to have abandoned plans to arm the Syrian rebels after warnings from senior military officials that sending arms would not likely alter the course of the conflict or could empower jihadist elements, and that the imposition of a no-fly zone or more significant measures could embroil Britain in a lengthy […]

Parliament moved to require the Prime Minister to give it veto power over any decision to arm the Syrian rebels. The head of MI6 has warned of the “highly worrying proliferation” of chemical weapons if the Assad regime falls in Syria. British spy agencies now believe Syria presents the biggest terror threat to the UK, […]

The government pledged £50 million in aid to help Lebanon support Syrian refugee communities. The parliamentary committee on security and intelligence reported that cyberattacks against the UK are at their highest level and rising. Barclays, the only major UK bank that still provides wire transfer services to Somalia, is planning to shut down the service […]

The Home Secretary has requested that two radical Islamist groups, Boko Haram and Minbar Ansar Deen a.k.a. Ansar al-Sharia UK, be added to the country’s list of banned terrorist organizations as of July 12. The UK currently proscribes 49 international terrorist groups.

Al Qaeda-linked cleric Abu Qatada was deported to Jordan to face retrial on terrorism charges. Under a treaty reached between the UK and Jordan in March, any evidence obtained through torture will be inadmissible. Some doubt that Qatada will be convicted.

Ayan Hadi, the wife of convicted terrorist Richard Dart, pled guilty to withholding information about her husband that would have helped with his arrest and prosecution. Preparations were made to deport extremist cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan to face terrorism charges.

Two Afghan detainees at the UK’s Camp Bastion in Afghanistan dropped their legal challenge to a transfer to the Afghan National Detention Facility at Bagram airbase. The UK has been trying to transfer over 80 detainees from Camp Bastion to the Afghan prison, but Defence Secretary Hammond blocked the move in November over fears the […]

The Supreme Court ruled that soldiers’ families can sue the government for damages resulting from alleged negligence by the military; in so doing, the court rejected the Defence Ministry’s claim of “combat immunity,” except for decisions made in the heat of battle or at high levels of military policy. The court also overturned sanctions against […]

Prime Minister Cameron said the UK has assessed that ” elements affiliated to al-Qaeda in the region have attempted to acquire chemical weapons for probable use in Syria.” He also said the UK agreed with the recent US assessment that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons in Syria.