Jonathan Hall, a QC independent reviewer of terrorism law in the United Kingdom, states that prison services were unable to confront Muslim gangs and allowed some prisons to become hotbeds of terrorism.
In his report “Terrorism in prison” Hall said: “The influence of Islamic groups has been underestimated by authorities for too long … The behavior of Islamic groups has become part of the prison landscape.”
A review of terrorist activity in prisons in England and Wales includes a November 2019 attack on Fishmonger’s Hall by convicted terrorist Usman Khan released from prison, and another Streatham three months later. A former Muslim prisoner following a series of high-profile incidents, including an attack.
In February of this year, Hashem Abedi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, was convicted of attacking a prison officer with two other Muslims in Belmarsh Prison.
In 2020, Brusthom Ziamani and Baz Hockton, who had been sentenced to 19 years for attempting to decapitate a soldier, were convicted of attempted murder of a prison officer in Whitemoor Prison.
Hockton had nothing to do with Islam until he was imprisoned in a series of assaults in Ramsgate, Kent in 2016. In this pair’s trial, he heard that he was radicalized by Ziamani, who accessed a memory card containing militant materials.
Hall said: When prison officers fear an imminent terrorist attack, prisons are significantly impaired. “
Terrorists have “reverse respect”
The head of anti-terrorism at Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire said he had “reverse respect” in which convicted terrorists were detained “in the prison subculture” in an inquest for the deaths of two victims of the Fish Mongers Hall attack. I testified about.
Will Geddes, CEO of the International Corporate Protection Group and an expert in anti-terrorism, told the Epoch Times that Muslim gangs believe it is easy to hire common criminals. Individuals who feel sacrificed, fascinated, and defeated in their purpose in life will find themselves believing that they are making greater profits. “
He states: “This is a long-standing problem of prisoners being put in more prisons. They are” schools of crime. ” One of the biggest challenges is getting people into jail and joining unradical, but sometimes radical groups by force or coercion. They can provide protection by becoming part of a faction. “
According to Hall’s report, prison services often took a soft and soft approach rather than tackling Islamic gangs head-on. According to the report, they often negotiated with leaders or “chiefs” to maintain order and tried to exclude prison officers from Friday’s prayer surveillance or ordered them to take off their shoes.
In response to this report, Justice Minister Dominic Raab said the government would not allow “cultural and religious susceptibility” to interfere with efforts to tackle terrorism and Islamic propaganda.
Raab also announced a new £ 1.2 million ($ 1.5 million) team in prison. The team identifies the most influential “charismatic” Islamic leaders and moves them to one of the three separation centers.
There are 28 centers in Frankland Prison, Durham, Woodhill, Buckinghamshire, and Full Sutton, Yorkshire.
Islamic gangs need to be “dismantled”
However, Guedes said: They need to dismantle not only the Islamic group, but also the right-wing group by removing the leader. “
Hall said in his report that prisons “have no comparable threat” other than those raised by Islamists.
He states: “Prisons should not be allowed to be a second opportunity for devoted terrorists whose attack plans are being thwarted in the community. More fundamentally, if a terrorist attack occurs in the prison, or Public confidence in the criminal justice system has been shaken if people enter the prison only in a more dangerous situation. When prisoners fear an imminent terrorist attack, the functioning of the prison is significantly impaired. “
Rab is the new government Bill of Rights Used to prevent terrorists claiming “the right to socialize” in prisons using human rights law.
So far, only 15 prisoners have been placed in special separation centers because of the risk of legal opposition by prisoners claiming to violate their right to private life under human rights law.
The Ministry of Justice has invested £ 6m ($ 7.5m) in expanding a close surveillance center, a special high-security building in prisons where the most violent criminals, including terrorists, are detained.
The governor will be given greater autonomy to tackle and reduce acts of terrorism in prisons and set new goals to improve performance.
PA Media contributed to this report.
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Chris Summers is a UK-based journalist with a particular interest in crime, police and law, covering stories from a wide range of countries.