10-22-2006
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County Council Member
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Member Since: Jun 2006
Location: Babylon
Posts: 263
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Counter-terrorism unit to tackle campus extremism
Quote:
Counter-terrorism unit to tackle campus extremism
By Roya Nikkhah
Last Updated: 12:37am BST 22/10/2006
University officials are to launch a "counter-terrorism" group to tackle the spread of Islamic fundamentalism on campuses.
Officials at every university will work with the Government, the police and the security services to monitor the activities of Islamic student societies that might be targeted by extremists.
The mosque in Walthamstow which Waheed Zaman attended
The new group, set up by the Association of University Chief Security Officers, will include officials from the Home Office's counter-terrorism department, Scotland Yard's National Public Order Intelligence Unit and Special Branch.
Its creation follows revelations in The Sunday Telegraph in August about the extent of fundamentalism at colleges. It will meet for the first time in January, but members are already in daily contact, exchanging information and intelligence on potential security threats to universities.
Barry Jakeman, the head of security at the University of Surrey and chairman of the group, said that extra vigilance was essential in light of growing concerns that terrorist organisations are recruiting from campuses.
"We know that leading figures in the terrorist field have studied at British universities and, because of our large population of international students, we are vulnerable," he said.
advertisementMr Jakeman, a former policeman, said that university authorities must not ignore the spread of extremist activities across campuses.
"We have already received information from our intelligence sources that undergraduates are targeted by extremist organisations attempting to recruit members," he said. "We can no longer afford to be complacent on this issue and we must get prepared." The move will fuel fears that Muslim students are being unfairly targeted.
Last week, it emerged that the Department for Education had drawn up proposals for university staff to monitor "Asian-looking" and Muslim students. Critics of the proposals described them as "bearing on the side of Mc-Carthyism".
A leaked government document described universities as "a fertile recruiting ground for students" and singled out Islamic societies as playing "a significant role in the extent of Islamic extremism on campus". University authorities, however, have been criticised for being "wilfully negligent" in ignoring the threat to national security in their midst. Sheikh Musa Admani, the imam at London Metropolitan University, welcomed the move to increase surveillance across campuses.
"It is about time these kinds of programmes were introduced and any step to control and monitor subversive activities is a positive one," he said.
Prof Anthony Glees, the director of Brunel University's Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, said that the counter-terrorism group was, "a long overdue sign that the problem of extremism on campuses is being taken as seriously as it should". Student Islamic societies have been subject to increasing scrutiny after it emerged that Waheed Zaman, a 22-year-old student and one of the 12 men charged in connection with the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, was the president of the Islamic Society at London Metropolitan University.
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Police in Manchester have been told not to arrest Muslims wanted on warrants at prayer times during the holy month of Ramadan.
An internal email listing prayer times was sent to officers in the metropolitan division asking them not to make planned arrests during those periods for reasons of religious sensitivity. Some officers are understood to have been angered by the instruction.
But a police spokesman said confusion arose because the original memo was unclear, and a second email has clarified that there is no blanket ban on arrests, simply a request for sensitivity. The latter email also stressed the order did not apply to on-the-spot arrests, only the execution of arrest warrants.
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Extremism on campuses seems to be a growing problem in the UK, and in my opinion it should also be looked at more closely in other countries. It looks like some dangerous elements are using university campuses to spread their hateful ideology and recruit terrorists.
It's not all just harmless talk. University students expressing support for terror are apparently not merely engaged in the free exchange of ideas, they might pose a real threat.
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