Quote:
Originally Posted by jaysay
If they were born and bred in this country then they are arguably guilty of treason, which still carries the death penalty
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Sorry John..got to pick up on that:
The
penalty for treason was changed from death to a maximum of imprisonment for life in 1998 under the Crime And Disorder Act. Before 1998, the death penalty was mandatory, subject to the
royal prerogative of mercy. Since the abolition of the
death penalty for murder in 1965 an execution for treason was unlikely to be carried out.
Treason laws were used against Irish insurgents before
Irish independence. However,
IRA and other
republican guerrillas were not prosecuted or executed for treason for levying war against the British government during the Troubles. They, along with
loyalist militants, were jailed for
murder, violent crimes or
terrorist offences.
William Joyce was the last person to be put to death for treason, in 1946. (On the following day
Theodore Schurch was executed for
treachery, a similar crime, and was the last man to be executed for a crime other than murder in the UK.)
As to who can commit treason, it depends on the ancient notion of
allegiance. As such, all
British nationals (but not other
Commonwealth citizens) owe allegiance to the Queen in right of the United Kingdom wherever they may be, as do Commonwealth citizens and aliens present in the United Kingdom at the time of the treasonable act (except diplomats and foreign invading forces), those who hold a British passport however obtained, and aliens who - having lived in Britain and gone abroad again - have left behind family and belongings.
This from Wilkpedia.