Treason
 

SO, should those in the UK who support the Taliban be charged with treason? If not, what should be done?

Send for Albert Pierpoint.
Although come to think about it, treason used to be hang draw and quarter.

Not a capital offence any more!

But is it even treason? What is treason, legally? Are we at war? Has war been declared? How about if they go out there and fight our allies but somehow claim not to be willing to fight Brit forces?

I'm not trying to be controversial, just asking.

I bet the legal position is interesting.

Cancel their citizenship, don`t let them back in the country.
If they want to fight for the Taliban they must want to live under their rules for the rest of their lives, and serve them right too.

Mike W

All those who wish to fight against their "own" country are traitors, whatever the legal nicities. For me that includes any terrorist organisation (and their supporters) operating against free democratic government, anyone who was an "agent of influence" for the Soviets in the cold war, all those MPs who cross their fingers when taking the oath of allegeance and wives of Kings who commit adultory.

Call me a bluff old fashioned traditionalist but there is a lot to be said for hang-draw-and-quartering.

How can it NOT be treason if someone fights against their own country?

If you choose to live in a democratic country you support them. If you disagree with a government's ideas you debate, vote, lobby, educate or whatever. If you still don't like it then you emigrate elsewhere. Fear or violence against a democratic nation should never be condoned.

Skylark4 'if they want to fight for the Taliban they must want to live under their rules for the rest of their lives'. Exactly. They shouldn't then be able to call themselves British or benefit from a free British education, health service, income support, etc.

I'm all for cultural diversity & freedom of thought, speech & religious belief, but it should never be used as an excuse for ignorance & violence.

Max R8, I agree that 'all those who wish to fight against their "own" country are traitors..... that includes any terrorist organisation' BUT how did you then jump to '....and wives of Kings who commit adultory'????!!!! Sorry, can you explain the logic please.

Queens were not hung drawn and quartered, even if they had commited adultery.
Hang drawn and quartered was a punishment reserved for commoners who commited treason.

I'm with Skylark and Paddington. Proof of Taliban support in action should result in confiscation of passport, removal of all UK citizenship rights and immediate deportation to Pakistan or Afghanistan - that is if they havent' made themselves CBU fodder first. One can always hope.

Tony Draper - Yes. Royalty had a relatively quick & less painful beheading. But anyway I was wondering how adultery could be viewed as treason????!!!

[ 31 October 2001: Message edited by: Paddington* ]

It might depend on who committed the adultery with who.
I could be confusing it with another offence but I have a feeling that this subject came up when a certain army officer was errr.......... 'seeing' Princess Di.

...and whatever you do, DON'T call a certain person 'H*rry H***tt'!! Or is it only me who thinks that there's a likeness....

I understand that 3 of these misguided folk who went off to fight for the perpetrators of terror in Afghanistan only lasted a few hours before meeting their maker (or more likely that dude with the horns, pointy tail and toasting fork) courtesy of a US bombing raid.

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind....

I hope someone cancelled their Social Security allowances.

BEags,
The question may be cleared up in a few years if young H follows tradition and joins his Pa's Wegiment. :rolleyes:

When capital punishment was first abolished for civil offences it remained an option in the various service acts. If my memory is correct there were still 4 offences which ranked the ultimate penalty including pokeing H.M. but no mention of H.R.H.

Defintly treason if U.K. citizens, if still still foriegn nationals deny reentry.

BBC has just shown a whole Afghan hillside erupt shortly after a B-52 passed over, it is to be hoped that some of these 'British citizens' witnessed it at close hand.

I would like to take this opportunity to encourage all those that support the Taliban/Bin Liner to go to Afganistan. If what we hear on the news is true, that we are running out of targets. Then your offer of supplying more for our forces to shoot up must be congratulated. Well done.

Floppy

PS Why not take the rest of the family along.
Go on make a day of it.

Surely the whole matter of misguided young Brit Muslims heading off to Afghanistan to join the Taliban is perfectly explained by classic Darwinian theory - self-removal from gene pool, and so on. Mr Blunkett should be offering free one-way tickets to Pakistan to these idiots. :mad:

There's been talk of ID cards but it's just a matter of time before we all have an ID chip implanted. Then, hopefully, we can a have a bomb which can home in on the chip of these people!

To sign up for this Jihad seems either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, and I'm inclined to the latter view.

That being the case, I wonder whether our ire and accusations of treachery shouldn't be directed at those who incite them to go off to become martyrs, and who organise their journeys.

And while we're at it, perhaps also question what it is that has so alienated some of our fellow citizens to even consider such a drastic form of action, and how our Moslem population might be better 'kept on board'?

As British 'Citizens', does that mean that their spouses are entitled to a War Widows pension? Or at least the right to take HMG to court......they've probably been deprived of something along the way.