…..Autism and radicalisation – A “staggeringly high” number of people with autism are referred to the government’s anti-radicalisation Prevent programme, according to Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. In a speech, Hall is to acknowledge “a very real and respectable fear that making any sort of link will lead to stigma … Is the use of strong powers to detect and investigate suspected terrorism in children justified? I believe it is because of the potential risk to the general public. But is the criminal justice outcome the right one in all cases?” Clare Hughes, criminal justice manager at the National Autistic Society, said: “The vast majority of the 700,000 autistic people in the UK are law-abiding” and called for sensitive, accurate and balanced” media reporting. Marking the 16th anniversary of the 7/7 terrorist attacks that killed 72 people, Hall will say the greatest risk remains an Islamist attack but the most dynamic new category is defined by investigators as mixed, unclear or uncertain (MUU) ideology, a category that does not prescribe to one specific doctrine…..
