Mother jailed for Britain's first all-female terror cell in parole bid
Mother jailed for being part of Britain’s first all-female terror cell and plotting ISIS knife attack in London tells judge her risk of danger to the public is NOT relevant in bid to be freed early
- Mina Dich groomed and radicalised her daughters who are both doing life
A convicted terrorist currently serving a six-year prison sentence for being a member of Britain’s first all-female terror cell has argued that her long-term danger to the public is not relevant in her parole bid.
Morocco-born Mina Dich, 49, was caged in 2018 after she helped her daughter’s with their preparations for Islamic State terror attacks.
Dich’s children Safaa Boular and Rizlaine Boular had planned to launch a gun and grenade attack on the British Museum and a knife attack on the Palace of Westminster respectively.
They were each jailed for life for their failed plots with Safaa becoming the youngest woman to be convicted of plotting a terror attack on British soil.
She had started plotting an attack in London after the ISIS fighter she planned to marry was killed in an air strike.
Mina Dich is due to be released from prison next year after plotting a terror attack
Court artist sketch of Mina Dich and Rizlaine Boular being sentenced for their crimes
At a High Court hearing into her parole bid, Dich’s barrister argued that the Parole Board was wrong in law to be considering Dich’s case on whether she would be a risk to the public on an ‘indefinite basis’.
The High Court was told a key factor in the release of the monster mother was how much she ‘poses a risk towards others, particularly those she is close to, who she may attempt to control or potentially radicalise.’
Representing Dich, Jude Bunting KC, representing said: ‘There is no support in the applicable statutory scheme that risk should be assessed on an indeterminate basis…Risk arising after sentence expiry is not legally relevant to the Parole Board’s task.’
READ MORE: Terrorist family called themselves ‘Mad Hatter’ gang
He continued to assert that should she be released she would be monitored with an electronic tag and be restricted from using the internet or meeting certain groups of people.
But Jason Pobjoy the justice department argued there was ‘no temporal limit on the Parole Board’s assessment of risk’, reports the Times.
He said: ‘Circumscribing the Parole Board’s ability to have regard to risk of future harm may have perverse, illogical and unintended consequences.’
Pobjoy said Dich’s argument would mean the Parole Board would be prevented from considering ‘a significant risk of serious future harm after the expiry of a sentence, irrespective of the likelihood of it materialising and the potential gravity of such harm’.
Dich has used coded phone calls and discussed holding an Alice In Wonderland themed tea party in reference to their plots.
Counter-terrorism police had swooped to arrest the plotters after a proactive surveillance operation with MI5.
At the time of sentencing, Judge Mark Dennis QC had said Dich ‘failed in her parental role’ to stop Rizlaine Boular just a month after the earlier Westminster atrocity and played a ‘significant role’ in radicalising both her daughters.
He told the mother she bore a ‘heavy responsibility’.
The court had heard Rizlaine and Safaa became ‘increasingly exposed’ to extremist views by ISIS-supporting friends Dich would invite to the home and access to material online.
Dich is currently serving a six year and nine month sentence with five years on extended licence after her release.
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