London – Britain is drawing up a new blacklist to block alleged terrorist sympathizers from entering the country and deport those already there, officials announced Wednesday, detailing expanded efforts to head off violence such as the July 7 bombings.
Officials also said they had reached an agreement to extradite terrorism suspects of Jordanian nationality to that country. Civil libertarians have expressed concern that the deportees could be subjected to torture and other abuses, despite Jordanian pledges of good treatment.
The crackdown is part of a government campaign to root out what it views as fundamental causes of the July 7 attacks, following the disclosure that the four men who appear to have carried out the suicide bombings were young British Muslims who turned into fanatics.
At least 56 people, including the bombers, died in the attacks, and 700 were wounded.
Britain has for years seen itself as a haven for political refugees, including some considered extremists by other European countries and the United States.
But the bombings have caused the government to reconsider its immigration policies and its tradition of freedom of speech.
In Pakistan, authorities said they were searching for a man named Haroon Rashid, who they believe might have played a role in the attacks.
They denied reports that they had arrested him. A man by that common name was taken into custody, officials said, but then released when it was determined that he was not the man being sought.
Senior Pakistani intelligence officials have said that, after early questioning of 24 people suspected of being Islamic radicals, no clues about the terrorist contacts of the London bombers have been found.
About 150 such suspects have been detained during a nationwide police crackdown in the past two days.
In London, the government hopes that the new measures under discussion will cut off or reduce the opportunities for radicals to influence alienated young Muslims in urban areas such as Leeds, the northern British city where three of the men lived.
