Islamic Terrorist Offences In The UK Have More than Doubled in the Past 5 Years

by Admin

A recent 1000 page report from the ‘The Henry Jackson Society’ identifies and profiles all Islamic related offences (IROs) in the UK which led to convictions between 1998 and 2015.  It also warns “Islamism-inspired terrorism remains the principal terrorism threat”.

The report recorded 269 convictions during the period, involving 253 individuals. 72 per cent of those who committed Islamism-related offences (IROs) were British nationals and 16 per cent were converts to Islam.  Of the 269 Islamism-related offences (IROs), 135 were distinct terrorism cases.

The rate of offending increased in the five-year period between 2011 and 2015 compared to the 13-year period between 1998 and 2010.

IROs have been seen to double in the last five year period from an average of 12 to 23 per year and distinct terrorism cases almost tripling from five per year to 14 per year.

The most common place of arrest for IROs were ethnically diverse areas, with London accounting for 42 per cent of the total, and Birmingham 14 per cent.  The age at arrest was commonly 22 years old.

The most common place of arrest for IROs were ethnically diverse areas, with London accounting for 42 per cent of the total, and Birmingham 14 per cent.

In 2011 only 45 per cent of London’s population belonging to the white British category, whilst a 2013 report found that fewer than a third of schoolchildren in Birmingham were white.

The study found “little correlation between involvement in terrorism and educational achievement and employment status”, with a quarter of IROs having been committed by individuals who had some form of higher education.

22 per cent of the people convicted, according to the report, had attended terrorist training camps and 44 per cent had direct links to a proscribed terror organisation, the most common of which were the UK-based al-Muhajiroun,  al-Qaeda (10 per cent overall) and Islamic State.

 Judging by the increase in IROs during the past 5 years, PREVENT, the government’s major deradicalisation program has not been very effective.  It  has been attacked by activists, unions and other bodies for being “racist”, and discriminatory towards Muslims.  As a result, the scope of the PREVENT programme was opened up to consider other possible radicalisation threats but it is proving to be less than effective in terms of preventing Islamic radicalisation.

Conservative MP Lucy Allan last month reported that increasing pressure on teachers to refer children to the Prevent Strategy for reasons other than radical Islam has led to schools considering whether attendance at a fathers’ rights march or a protest against badger culls could qualify a pupil for referral.

In January, a 15-year-old schoolboy who thought “Muslim women shouldn’t be allowed to wear the niqab”, was identified as a potential terrorist and put through the government’s strictest de-radicalisation programme.