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Generation Jihad
I went out this morning in a hurry and completely forgot to give advance notice of this programme on at 9pm this evening and the next 3 weeks on BBC2.
This is a BBC report HT Alan
Two young British Muslims who have served short prison sentences for terrorism offences have spoken frankly about their views to a new BBC documentary investigation into the extent of the radicalisation of Muslims in the UK. The views of Rizwan Ditta and Bilal Mohammed, two young Muslims born and brought up in Halifax, West Yorkshire, will be anathema to the vast majority of the British people including many British Muslims.
The two are close friends. Both received prison sentences for possessing material likely to be useful to terrorists, most of it downloaded from the internet. Ditta was sentenced to four years and Mohammed to two. Both had pleaded guilty. Mohammed has the dubious distinction of being the first to be convicted under the new offence of glorifying terrorism. Mohammed says that he was welcomed home with flowers and presents. He claims that none of the Muslim community views him as a terrorist.
"They gave me support and comfort, saying everything is alright. Don't worry, you didn't do anything."
Ditta and Mohammed are the angry voices of an extreme element of young British Muslims today. MI5 believes there are about 2,000 extremists in the UK who pose a potential threat. The fact that these two were prepared to talk on camera for the BBC documentary series Generation Jihad is remarkable.
Sir Norman Bettison, the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire - home to three of the 7/7 bombers and Britain's youngest convicted terrorist, Hamaad Munshi - draws a clear distinction between innocently searching the internet for information on Islamist extremism and doing so with a terrorist purpose in mind.
The law, as subsequently clarified, says that there has to be reasonable suspicion that possession was for a terrorist purpose. His prognosis for the future is not encouraging. What our documentary series refers to as Generation Jihad is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
"I think it's a generation of treatment to prevent the infection spreading and I think that will take us probably 20 years," he said.
The treatment will need surgery in my opinion, and maybe the social equivalent of radio and chemotherapy.
Update - I have watched episode 1. All it did was make me very cross. Apart from showing me views of Saville Town where my husband's family lived for a time it told me nothing I didn't already know, perpetuated the Mohammed al Dura myth, and took the 'small minority of extremists' line.