Should individuals convicted of terrorism run for public office?

Last year, when Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv played Aston Villa in a Europa Conference League match, Shahid Butt used social media to call on Muslims from around the country to travel to Birmingham to show solidarity with Palestinians and to prevent the Israeli team’s supporters from, in his words, “desecrating” and “dirtying” the city.

This year he is running for public office in the UK despite being convicted in Yemen in 1999 over a terror plot targeting the British consulate in Aden, an Anglican church and a hotel.

In this article, I write about the dangers of normalising exclusivist, extremist and violent ideologies:

Police Disrupt Britain’s Worst Act of Terrorism

Two men have been convicted for plotting an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack on Jewish communities in the north-west of England which aimed to kill hundreds of innocent people.

Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were convicted of making preparations to commit a large-scale terrorist attack, while Walid Saadaoui’s younger brother Bilel Saadaoui, 36, was convicted of failing to disclose to authorities the information he knew about their plans, following a trial at Preston Crown Court which concluded today.