Two significant reports that I have just read in the past few days have made me realise that still people do not get it about the threat of radical Islamism.
The Centre for Social Cohesion's new report Hizb ut-Tahrir: Ideology and Strategy, by Houriya Ahmed and Hannah Stuart, and the Quilliam Foundation's report by James Brandon, Unlocking Al-Qaeda: Islamist Extremism in British Prisons, both made jaw-dropping reading. Jaw-dropping not because of what they revealed about the presence of radical Islamists in our midst, but because of what they revealed about the ignorance and incompetence, indeed unwitting complicity, of our authorities.
Take Quilliam's report first. With a foreword by the Conservatives' Shadow Security Minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, the report details a terrifying phenomenon: that in Britain's jails radical Islamists imprisoned for preaching hate and plotting terror are actively using the prisons as a recruiting ground for fresh converts to extremism: and with success. Twelve per cent of the prison population, or 10,000 inmates, are Muslim - vulnerable to radicalisation.
Quilliam's report documents, shockingly, the availability of jihadist literature in prison libraries. Well HELLO, isn't that a bit dumb? During the trial of Mohammad al-Figari, a convert to Islam jailed for attending terrorist training camps organised by Abu Hamza, the prosecution produced a book found in al-Figari's possession, entitled How Can I Train Myself for Jihad? The book had a stamp from Wandsworth prison's library. Furthermore, al-Figari received extremist literature sent by followers of Abu Hamza, while in jail. What is the Prison Service doing stocking jihadi literature in its libraries, and allowing jihadi literature to be received by mail by inmates?
Extremists in prison have on occasion been trained as mentors and 'listeners' by the Prison Service. Amar Makhlulif, believed to be a key al-Qaeda leader who helped plan attacks in Los Angeles and the UK, is believed to have been trained by the Samaritans as someone to whom other prisoners could go for advice. Great! Good thinking, Batman! In the understatement of the year, Quilliam suggests that this decision "seems somewhat odd".
As if providing jihadi literature and training potential terrorists to be counsellors were not topsy-turvey enough, extremists in some prisons are invited to lead Friday prayers. Banned from preaching hatred in our streets, they are then given free pulpits in our prisons.
But, just so life doesn't get too comfortable, in Belmarsh prison in 2004 the prison authorities dished out pork chops labelled "halal": a move designed to inflame and insult. Anti-Muslim violence and bigotry has been allowed to grow unchallenged in prisons, creating the perfect victim culture upon which Islamism feeds. Give them some jihadi literature, some fiery preachers, a few beatings and some pork chops, and surprise surprise, you have a radical Islamist recruited in your prison.
Perhaps the most bizarre finding of Quilliam's report is that Islamists in British prisons have been writing jihadi texts from their prison cells. The report notes:
"For decades, Islamist extremists in prisons around the world have produced books and theological tracts that have galvanised Islamist and jihadist groups and individuals both inside and outside prison towards extremism and violence. From British prisons today, Islamist extremists write and distribute articles, fatwas (religious rulings) and even complete books promoting intolerance, extremism and terrorist violence."
Abu Qatada has apparently been using his prison writings to stir up jihad. He announced in March this year that he has written a number of books, including one which aims to help jihadists understand which tactics and strategies work and which do not. He boasts of having radicalised Muslims in Britain and made more Muslims "hate" the "English" values. In an address he penned earlier this year, he wrote:
"A new generation of the Muslim youth has been raised ... who were no longer mesmerized by the English authority, nor regarding the English values - rather they hate it and they know its enmity towards them, so they have become enemies towards it as well."
Abu Qatada has also stated that he has received feedback to his writings, from readers, while he remains in prison. Why is such mail being delivered to him? Have his latest writings been seized before they can be distributed?
Oh, and here's another one: an extremist jailed for running jihadist websites, Tariq Al-Dour, has according to Quilliam been illicitly accessing the internet from within Belmarsh, using a smuggled mobile phone and a laptop provided by the Prison Service at £1,000 cost to the taxpayer! Upon discovery, surprise surprise, he was found building a website - from his prison cell.
Some Islamists have even conducted media interviews from their prisons. Faraj Hassan al-Saad gave interviews to the Islam Channel from a payphone in prison, even though it was only meant to be used for prisoners to contact family and lawyers. Quilliam notes that the prison authorities did put a stop to this misuse of the phones: "It is encouraging that the Prison Service now thinks that individuals detained on terrorism-related charges should not be allowed to deliberately inflame Muslim opinion and to turn British Muslims against the government." However, Quilliam notes, "the government's slowness to act on this issue suggests that the Prison Service has grossly underestimated and misunderstood the threat posed by Islamist extremists."
In the litany of absurdities documented in the report, it is claimed that the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has given over £170,000 to Cageprisoners, an organisation which Quilliam depicts "as a conduit between convicted extremists such as Abu Hamza and their supporters and sympathisers outside prison."
The Quilliam report puts forward a range of recommendations which are worth studying, not least a proposal for a de-radicalisation centre for former prisoners. Mentoring, providing moderate literature, warning inmates of the presence of extremists and promoting visits by victims of terrorism are some of the other recommendations. But it is in its conclusion that the report is surprisingly obvious and yet profound:
"Islamism in all its varieties will remain a threat to the UK's secular, liberal and democratic society for many years to come - and this will continue to be reflected in British prisons. The Prison Service, and much of government as a whole, needs therefore to move beyond its present defensive posture and its habit of seeking quick fixes and instead adopt robust long-term strategies ..."
Not stocking jihadi books in prison libraries would be a start.
This report should not be read in isolation. The Centre for Social Cohesion's report on Hizb ut-Tahrir: Ideology and Strategy provides further explanation of the ideology underpinning Islamism in Britain, and the depth of ignorance that remains among policy-makers today. One of the report's key recommendations is a call for
"a greater recognition of the role that 'non-violent' extremist ideology plays in radicalising individuals and fuelling segregation within British Muslim communities".
Hizb ut-Tahrir, according to the CSC, "provides the ideological legitimacy for committing acts of terrorism". Government officials at various levels still sometimes share platforms with Hizb ut-Tahrir: they should not. As David Cameron and Michael Gove have highlighted, government money has been given to Hizb ut-Tahrir -linked schools. This is wrong and must stop.
One of the points most noticeable from both reports is that radical Islamism is not limited by any means to those who were born Muslim. The number of converts to Islam from Western backgrounds is surprising - and many of them have been radicalised. Think of Simon Keeler, leader of an extremist organisation and a former member of al-Muhajiroun; David Myatt, a former neo-Nazi turned Wahhabiist and Islamist; Kevin Gardner, who converted in Stoke Heath Young Offender's Institution; and Richard Reid, the shoe bomber.
Both these reports should be read by any and every thinking person who cares about our values of liberal democracy. Eyes must be opened, sleepers must awake, and the spread of this intolerant ideology must be defeated.
