Interesting Article: Seven arrested over al-Qaeda bomb plot by By ANDREW PARKER and SIMON HUGHES / Birmingham published Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Six men were seized in Birmingham recently who had been planning a major terror atrocity in the UK. According to the neighbor, all men were known as devout Muslims, who kept to themselves.
The raid also included the search of Mohammed Irfan (see picture on right), a jihadist that was jailed for four years over a plot to kidnap a Muslim British soldier and behead him live on the internet. Unfortunately, he was released after less than two years but was not among those arrested yesterday. Mohamed Irfan is of Pakistani descent and lives in Alum Rock, Birmingham, in the same neighborhood with Amjad Mahmood and Parviz Khan. Mohamed Irfan was recruited to the Birmingham beheading plot relatively late, in 03/2006. Amjad Mahmood was arrested, on Wednesday 01/31/2007, as a suspect in the Birmingham beheading plot. In the search in his computer, following his arrest, the police found what they described a “jihad encyclopedia”. Mohamed Irfan pleaded guilty to helping Parviz Khan supply equipment to Afghanistan. Mohamed Irfan was later released from jail, along with Zahoor Iqbal, Basiru Gassama and Hamid Elasmar, on Sunday 10/25/2009.The fact is, Britain has become an incubator for violent Islamic extremism, fueled by disenchantment at home and growing rage about events abroad, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Britain’s 9/11 involved four bombers killing themselves and 52 others in attacks on the London public transit system on July 7, 2005. An almost identical plot was foiled two weeks later. The British security service, known as MI5, disclosed in August 2006 that it had about 1,200 Islamic militants under surveillance who were considered capable of carrying out violent attacks. Despite the prosperity of some Muslims, statistics released by the government in 2006 showed that unemployment rates were higher among Muslims than for any other religion. Among Muslims aged 16 to 24, almost 28 percent were unemployed, compared with about 12 percent of Britons overall in that age group. Many in Britain argue that isolation and disenchantment among young Muslims provides a fertile environment for extremist groups recruiting new members. British officials have constantly lamented the failure of many in the Muslim community to fully integrate into British society, preferring to live instead in neighborhoods where they rarely mix with others. A Pew global survey of Muslim attitudes found that 81 percent of British Muslims who responded agreed they consider themselves Muslim first and British second. Only Pakistan had a higher percentage of people who considered themselves Muslims first, the survey showed. According to the government's revised "Prevent strategy" paper for 2011, 25 boroughs most at risk from Islamist extremism, included areas of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford and Manchester. The areas identified have large Muslim populations that rarely mix with main stream Britain. Due to this factor, infiltrating and rooting out young Jihadist has proven to be a problem. The underlying fact though is once they are caught, the British government should take the necessary steps to monitor and/or jail individuals such as Mohamed Irfan, who are a direct threat to the population. What Britain does to ensure the safety of its citizens is very important, and it will be interesting to see how the curb this type of extremist behavior.
References:
Jihadist Watch
Pew Global Study
"Young Muslim Rage Takes Root in Britain" By Kevin Sullivan and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, August 13, 2006
"Universities 'complacent' over Islamic extremism, warns Theresa May", Press Association, Guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 June 2011
Six men were seized in Birmingham recently who had been planning a major terror atrocity in the UK. According to the neighbor, all men were known as devout Muslims, who kept to themselves.
The raid also included the search of Mohammed Irfan (see picture on right), a jihadist that was jailed for four years over a plot to kidnap a Muslim British soldier and behead him live on the internet. Unfortunately, he was released after less than two years but was not among those arrested yesterday. Mohamed Irfan is of Pakistani descent and lives in Alum Rock, Birmingham, in the same neighborhood with Amjad Mahmood and Parviz Khan. Mohamed Irfan was recruited to the Birmingham beheading plot relatively late, in 03/2006. Amjad Mahmood was arrested, on Wednesday 01/31/2007, as a suspect in the Birmingham beheading plot. In the search in his computer, following his arrest, the police found what they described a “jihad encyclopedia”. Mohamed Irfan pleaded guilty to helping Parviz Khan supply equipment to Afghanistan. Mohamed Irfan was later released from jail, along with Zahoor Iqbal, Basiru Gassama and Hamid Elasmar, on Sunday 10/25/2009.The fact is, Britain has become an incubator for violent Islamic extremism, fueled by disenchantment at home and growing rage about events abroad, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Britain’s 9/11 involved four bombers killing themselves and 52 others in attacks on the London public transit system on July 7, 2005. An almost identical plot was foiled two weeks later. The British security service, known as MI5, disclosed in August 2006 that it had about 1,200 Islamic militants under surveillance who were considered capable of carrying out violent attacks. Despite the prosperity of some Muslims, statistics released by the government in 2006 showed that unemployment rates were higher among Muslims than for any other religion. Among Muslims aged 16 to 24, almost 28 percent were unemployed, compared with about 12 percent of Britons overall in that age group. Many in Britain argue that isolation and disenchantment among young Muslims provides a fertile environment for extremist groups recruiting new members. British officials have constantly lamented the failure of many in the Muslim community to fully integrate into British society, preferring to live instead in neighborhoods where they rarely mix with others. A Pew global survey of Muslim attitudes found that 81 percent of British Muslims who responded agreed they consider themselves Muslim first and British second. Only Pakistan had a higher percentage of people who considered themselves Muslims first, the survey showed. According to the government's revised "Prevent strategy" paper for 2011, 25 boroughs most at risk from Islamist extremism, included areas of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford and Manchester. The areas identified have large Muslim populations that rarely mix with main stream Britain. Due to this factor, infiltrating and rooting out young Jihadist has proven to be a problem. The underlying fact though is once they are caught, the British government should take the necessary steps to monitor and/or jail individuals such as Mohamed Irfan, who are a direct threat to the population. What Britain does to ensure the safety of its citizens is very important, and it will be interesting to see how the curb this type of extremist behavior. References:
Jihadist Watch
Pew Global Study
"Young Muslim Rage Takes Root in Britain" By Kevin Sullivan and Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, August 13, 2006
"Universities 'complacent' over Islamic extremism, warns Theresa May", Press Association, Guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 June 2011
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