PREVENT: creating “radicals” to strengthen anti-Muslim narratives

Abstract

“She is of good behaviour and a good Muslim. Against this background, I accept on the evidence before me that this defendant gathered together the contents of the SD card in order to explore and understand the charges which her brothers faced. There is no evidence that she was motivated by their ideology or was preparing to follow them.” The judge in the case of Umm Ahmed clarified to the court that she had not been involved in illegality or had any intention to pose a threat to the UK. Despite this recognition, he sentenced Begum to a 12-month prison term for possessing the magazine Inspire which she had been reading to understand her charged brother’s case. What is unknown is the story of how Umm Ahmed was subjected to a deradicalisation programme, under the auspices of PREVENT and CHANNEL, without any indication of actual involvement in terrorism. The use of deradicalisation narratives in schools, universities and hospitals has led to the criminalisation of large sections of the various Muslim communities in the UK. Based on our experience of cases such as Umm Ahmed, we hope to present a view of how an aggressive anti-Muslim narrative that is based on assumptions subverts the political expression/identity of individuals by turning them into potential threats. The advocacy group CAGE has been working with Umm Ahmed in order to highlight the abuse of the terrorism narrative in her case, but also to understand the actual implementation of PREVENT and CHANNEL beyond their conceptual promotion as a safeguarding tool. By understanding the everyday interactions with PREVENT, a picture can be formed of the way that a false presentation of narratives can lead to a person becoming an “extremist” or “terrorist”, while the truth may lie in a completely alternative place.

Keywords:

• PREVENT
• CHANNEL
• deradicalisation
• anti-Muslim
• terrorism
• extremism

Notes

1. Interview with Umm Ahmed, February 2014. Conducted by Asim Qureshi, CAGE. All quotes from Umm Ahmed in this piece are taken from this interview.

2. The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right street protest movement that bases its politics on a fear of the threat posed by Islam to the UK.

3. Al Muhajiroon is a collective of Muslims who rally under the preaching of the Luton-based Anjem Chaudary. The have been proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK but continue to rebrand under different guises. Their politics very much reflect anger over UK foreign and domestic policies in relation to Muslims, but also advocate for Islamic law to be established in the UK.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Asim Qureshi

Asim Qureshi is Research Director at CAGE. He has a legal background specialising in International and Islamic Law. He is currently employed as the Research Director at CAGE where he has led investigations across the world. With his team of researchers, he has written and published reports exposing the use of unlawful detention, rendition and torture in the “war on terror”. He is also the author of the book, Rules of the Game. The work will analyse the global detention policies in the “war on terror” post 11 September 2001 and the impact on those most affected, the victims.