Prevent strategy faces legal action

The government's controversial counter terrorism strategy, Prevent, will face a legal challenge in the High Court because it breached ‘free speech rights’. Salman Butt, the British Muslim activist who is leading the challenge, was listed as one of a number of ‘non-violent extremists’ by the government, having given talks on university campuses. After being granted permission to take the judicial review case to a full hearing, Butt's lawyers will now challenge part of the Prevent strategy that aims to stop people becoming or supporting terrorists, specifically how the strategy has been implemented in universities and further education institutions. The Prevent duty, issued under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, places universities and colleges in the UK under a legal obligation to engage with the Prevent strategy, and to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. Butt denies holding views contrary to British values, explaining to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme the he is ‘not an extremist, either violent or non-violent’. He told the programme: “Being labelled as some kind of extremist does have a stigmatising effect. I have not spoken at any universities since I was named in the [Downing Street] press release. "My aim isn't just to clear my name, it is to bring transparency to the hidden processes by which individuals are tarnished with the label of an extremist, to ensure it is brought into the scrutiny of the courts."