Published 11:12 IST, December 1st 2019
London Bridge: British PM vows to act as convicted terrorist named in attack
London Bridge attack has prompted the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to state that he will be reviewing the criminal justice system of the United Kingdom.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday, vowed that he will review the sentencing system of Britain after it was discovered that the terrorist responsible for the London Bridge attack was a convicted terrorist who had been released earlier from prison. Usman Khan who has been identified as the London Bridge attacker had stabbed two people to death and injured three.
Bystanders try to stop terrorist
Three members of the public have been hailed as heroes after a video went viral of how they subdued the terrorist and pinned him down and prevented greater loss of life at the hands of Usman Khan. A polish chef by the name of Lukasz was seen confronting Usman Khan with nothing but a Narwhal Tusk which he had reportedly grabbed from a historic hall where the attack began. Another person in the video, one of the three brave by-standers that brought Usman down can be seen spraying him with a fire extinguisher.
Usman Khan as it turns out was released conditionally from jail in December 2018 after he had served less than half of his 16-year sentence for terrorism. After the attack, the Islamic State released a statement on Saturday claiming responsibility for the act. In their statement, they said that the person who carried out the attack was a fighter of the Islamic State and was tasked with targeting citizens of coalition countries. The coalition countries that Islamic State used in their statement referred to a multi-country alliance against the Islamic State.
This most recent incident occurred two years after another terrorist in a van drove into pedestrians on the London Bridge. In that incident, eight people were killed and 48 were wounded. The most recent London Bridge attack comes just two weeks before the general elections in Britain and all the key politicians have suspended campaigning in order to address the attack. Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn said that there was a failure in the handling of Khan's case and the attack raises urgent questions about the effectiveness of the parole system and the wider judiciary as a whole.
Boris Johnson who took over as Prime Minister of Britain in July of this year said that the cases of several other convicted terrorists who were released early were under review. While visiting the scene of the attack Boris Johnson said that it did not make sense for Britain to be putting people out who have been convicted of terrorist offences, he added that these men should serve the full term of their sentenced. Queen Elizabeth II of Britain expressed her heartfelt thanks to the three brave individuals who had put their own lives at risk in order to protect the lives of others during the attack.
Updated 11:34 IST, December 1st 2019