Awkward, especially here, I know, but there you have it. But, look, if any other high-profile politician were suggesting the burden of proof in criminal trials should be switched from the accuser to the accused we’d be properly – in both senses – appalled.
So we should be appalled that Boris suggests in his Telegraph column today that anyone travelling to Iraq or Syria should be presumed a jihadist unless and until they can prove otherwise. The state will not have to make a case you convict you but you must make a case to avoid conviction.
And, lo, centuries of criminal law are undone. Worse still, I think, Boris considers this ‘a minor change’ to the law. What, one wonders, would constitute a major change? ‘It is hard’ Boris laments, ‘to press charges without evidence’. There should instead be ‘a “rebuttable presumption” that all those visiting war areas without notifying the authorities have done so for a terrorist purpose.’
So let’s – effectively – introduce internment instead.
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