TUESDAY DECEMBER 18 2001 Taleban Briton can be charged A BRITISH Muslim who claimed to have recruited hundreds of volunteers to fight for the Taleban could face prosecution under anti-terrorism laws, Downing Street said yesterday Hassan Butt was reported by The Mirror to have returned to Britain from Pakistan, where he claimed he had helped up to 1,000 recruits to cross into Afghanistan. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed that he could not be interned under the Government’s emergency anti-terrorist act, which covers only foreign terrorist suspects.

However, he said that Mr Butt — a member of the al-Muhajiroun organisation — could still be covered by the Terrorism Act, which makes it an offence to recruit people for foreign terrorist organisations.

“If a non-foreign national was recruiting for the Taleban, they would not be covered by the emergency legislation, but there is no reason why they can’t be covered by other terrorism legislation,” he said. Any decision to arrest Mr Butt, 22, a student from Luton, would be an operational matter for the police.

The Mirror said that it had been approached by an intermediary asking for £100,000 to sell his story.

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-- Anonymous, December 17, 2001