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Sarkozy demands "thorough reflection" of the proselytising of hate in prisons | |||||||||
2012-03-26 | |||||||||
PARIS: An extremistÂ’s killing spree has turned the spotlight on the risk of extremist Islamic indoctrination in prisons, but FranceÂ’s intelligence chief said Mohamed Merah had learned his radicalism alone.
“We cannot allow our prisons to become seed-beds for the indoctrination of ideologies of hate and terrorism,” the president said, demanding a “thorough reflection” on measures to control the threat. But most experts who spoke on Friday said the young man had taken time in prison to radicalise himself, rather than falling victim to recruiters.
Merah, now 23, was jailed at 19 for a series of thefts and violent crimes and spent two years in jail. After his release he headed to Afghanistan and Pakistan where he claims to have received training from al-Qaeda. “It was during his time in prison that he began to radicalise himself,” prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters this week. And the head of France’s DCRI domestic intelligence agency, Bernard Squarcini told the daily Le Monde: “According to statements he made during the siege, he self-radicalised in prison, on his own.”
“Most of these young guys, when they come out of jail, want to go out with girls, steal BMWs and Mercedes, sell heroin for money,” he said. “They go back to the sensual pleasures of their former lives.
While lawyer Dominique Many said that Muslims who had travelled to Pakistan or Afghanistan were admired in prison as “resistance fighters”, other experts played down their long-term influence on less hardened recruits. Farhad Khosrokhavar, director the EHESS social sciences school, said another strand of Islamic thought, “hyper fundamentalism”, was growing in prisons. Adherents to this ideal close in on themselves and dedicate much time to Islamic studies and prayer, but are not generally violent.
Verzeletti said more “Muslim chaplains” were being allowed to work in jails, helping prisoners who want to live a mainstream religious life.”
“The chaplain is the benchmark. If there’s none, there’s a risk.”The number of Muslim clerics working in jails has tripled since 2006 to around 150, he said. Abdelhak Eddouk, who works with Muslim prisoners in Fleury-Merogis jail outside Paris, agreed, explaining that chaplains can quickly respond to and defuse through argument the development of dangerous ideas. | |||||||||
Posted by:Besoeker |
#1 Merah, now FIFY |
Posted by: AlanC 2012-03-26 10:51 |