Significant Shorts : Islamic disident not to face charges

Islamic dissident Mohammed Al-Masari will not face criminal charges over calls for the "annihilation" of Jews, it emerged yesterday. The Crown Prosecution Service said tightly drawn laws on incitement to murder and racial hatred meant a prosecution was impossible over inflammatory literature advocating the extermination of Jews in Israel.

But the CPS confirmed that it remained ready to take action if further evidence was submitted. The decision sparked a storm of protest at Westminster where MPs remain furious at the failure of government attempts to expel the Saudi dissident. Former Cabinet minister Lord Tebbit said: "It seems that this man can say anything without risk of prosecution or expulsion from this country."