British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to end the early release of convicted terrorists after an Islamist attacker stabbed two people days after he was set free half way through his prison term.
Sudesh Amman, jailed in 2018 for possession of terrorist documents and disseminating terrorist publications, went on the rampage after strapping a fake bomb to his body and wielding a stolen knife on a busy London street on Sunday. He was shot dead by police.
He had previously praised the Islamic State, shared an online al-Qaeda magazine and encouraged his girlfriend to behead her parents.
Mr. Johnson said the government would announce fundamental changes in dealing with people convicted of terrorism offences, saying he had come “to the end of my patience” with freeing offenders before they had completed their sentences and without any scrutiny.
“I think the idea of automatic early release for people who obviously continue to pose a threat to the public has come to the end of its useful life,” he said.
“We do think it's time to take action to ensure that people - irrespective of the law that we're bringing in - people in the current stream do not qualify automatically for early release.”
The government has repeatedly promised tougher rules on terrorism since another former convict killed two people and wounded three more before police shot him dead near London Bridge in November.
Mr. Johnson said the instances of deradicalising and rehabilitating Islamists was hard and the instances of success were few.
Amman’s mother, Haleema Faraz Khan, told Sky News that he was a “nice, polite boy”, who was radicalised online and in prison.
“He became more religious inside prison, that's where I think he became radicalised,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the stabbing attack.
Britain has about 220 people in prison with terrorism convictions.
In 2016, Britain announced plans to isolate radical Islamists in special units in high security jails to limit their ability to influence other inmates amid concerns that prisons were breeding grounds for extremists.
