THERE has been a lot of talk about the quality of the afterlife to be enjoyed by the Taliban. These terrorists claim that, if they die as martyrs, they will go to heaven to be welcomed by 72 virgins. Will these virgins be wearing the burqa, I wonder? But let that pass.

There is a more basic question to be answered. On the day after Christmas, Boxing Day, more properly known as St Stephen's Day, we shall remember the death of St Stephen, the first martyr. He was stoned to death merely for being a Christian. But when the Taliban, Al Qaida terrorists and other Muslim fundamentalists talk about martyrs they don't mean someone who dies for his faith, they mean someone who kills for it, and incidentally kills himself in the process.

People who deliberately crash aeroplanes into skyscrapers cannot, by any elasticity of the imagination, be regarded as martyrs: the proper names for these thugs are murderers and suicides.

Here in London, I feel as if I'm living in enemy-occupied territory. Ken Livingstone, Mayor of this great city, has just said: "We've got to accept that the young Muslims who went off to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban have a deep sense of injustice about what's happening in Israel and on the West Bank. They should not be prosecuted for treason if they return to this country". It makes me wonder whether Red Ken is moonlighting as ambassador for the Taliban.

Mr Livingstone himself should be prosecuted for treason for siding with the traitors on the grounds that my enemy's friend and supporter is also my enemy. I don't believe for a minute that the prime motivation for some British Muslims going to fight for the Taliban and Al Qaida is a sense of injustice about what's happening in Israel. No, they went to fight for the Taliban because they hate England, America, the Western way of life and everything we stand for. Besides, Mr Livingston, if they really do have a deep sense of injustice about what's going on in Israel, there are ways of voicing their disquiet without recourse to violent treachery towards Britain. Later on in the same interview, Mr Livingstone says: "The Taliban are flipping mad religious nutters". Oh dear, doesn't this put the mayor in danger of being locked up under the Government's new law against inciting religious hatred?

Meanwhile, we ought to ask how serious the British Government is in fighting its war on terrorism. Three Arabs have been in prison in Britain for more than six months under suspicion of bombing the East African US embassies in 1998. The Americans are pressing for the extradition of these suspects, but Blair and Blunkett have so far refused. There is new, convincing evidence, but still we continue to house and feed them. The House of Lords will decide this week if they are to be freed or sent to America for trial. The Lords' decision will then be referred back to the Home Secretary. If Mr Blunkett says the men should be extradited, they will be allowed to appeal for a judicial review of their case. This would take three years. As John McEnroe might say: "Mr Blair, you cannot be serious!"

Published: Tuesday, November 27, 2001