London (CNSNews.com) - The U.K. government will introduce legislation to include crimes against persons because of their religious faith under existing hate laws, Home Secretary David Blunkett said Wednesday.
Blunkett announced the measure in response to reprisals directed at Muslims in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"Because it's clear that laws against race hate are not sufficient in these situations, we will now include religion," the home secretary said.
The U.K. government will widen the law on incitement to include religious hatred as well as racially motivated assaults. Blunkett said he would also consider the creation of a new category of "religious aggravated offences" to correspond with racial criminal offences created by the 1998 U.K. Crime and Disorder Act.
Blunkett said that while existing hate crime legislation included religions that are usually specific to one ethnic group, such as Judaism and Sikhism, religions that include a wide variety of members from various ethnic groups, such as Christianity and Islam, are not yet covered.
"I am ...determined to ensure that religion is not used to divide and fragment communities in our country in this difficult time," Blunkett said.
Muslims were the targets of several attacks in the U.K. after September 11. Several mosques were damaged, and an Afghan taxi driver in London was paralyzed after being assaulted. Most recently, police are investigating a suspicious fire that damaged a mosque in Edinburg early Wednesday.
Michelynn Lafleche, director of The Runnymede Trust, an independent think-tank on ethnic issues, said the group had advocated that religion be included under the Crime and Disorder Act.
"Overall we are quite delighted about this. It's a positive step forward," Lafleche said by phone Wednesday. "But it does not go far enough. In the U.K., freedom of religion is guaranteed - but freedom from discrimination based on religion is not."
Lafleche said she would like to see religion written into anti-discrimination laws.
Faster extradition, asylum reforms
During a speech to delegates at the Labour Party's annual conference, Blunkett outlined several other reforms in areas that had caused problems for the government even before the September 11 attacks.
Following along the lines of measures announced by European Union ministers, Blunkett promised a speeded-up extradition system, calling the current process "farcical" and open to abuse by terrorists.
"Speeding up our processes will not prevent due process," he said.
Also due for overhaul is asylum law, which has been a hot-button issue in Britain for several years. Blunkett said the government would end the detention of asylum seekers jailed even though they are not suspected of committing crimes.
He also promised to institute a program of "managed migration" whereby skilled workers could enter Britain and obtain work permits. In comparison with countries such as the United States, such programs do not exist on a wide scale in the U.K., and the home secretary said the introduction of such a system would stop economic migrants from claiming political asylum.
"We cannot become a fortress Britain," Blunkett said. "We need a new radical improved approach on immigration and asylum. We must lift the pall of suspicion from those who are in the country openly and legitimately."
At the same time, the home secretary promised to crack down on terrorists who attempt to claim political asylum and people traffickers. He also sought to reassure a nation made jittery by headlines warning of imminent terror attacks.
"We are safer now then we are on September 10," because of increased security measures, heightened awareness of terrorist activities and international cooperation, he said. "People are taking seriously a threat that we never thought would happen."
ID cards not ruled out
In an interview with the BBC later Wednesday, Blunkett backed away from earlier statements by members of the Labour Party that plans for ID cards would be not be considered when drafting anti-terror legislation.
"On September 14, I said 'We're thinking about it, we're going to think about it at length ... and that position holds," he said.
The home secretary promised to introduce specific legislation in Parliament by the end of the month. A special session of the British legislature will convene Thursday to discuss various proposals made by the government in response to the terrorist threat.
Blunkett's remarks followed similar comments made to the Labour Party conference during a rousing speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday.
"Here in this country and in other nations round the world, laws will be changed, not to deny basic liberties but to prevent their abuse and protect the most basic liberty of all: freedom from terror," Blair said.