Can Terrorists be Deradicalized? - Part II

by Denis MacEoin • August 20, 2020 at 5:00 am

However pure religious Islam was in its earliest phase, after Muhammad came to rule in the city of Medina and during the successive caliphates that followed his death in 632, it became a dogma that the state must be ruled by Islam, its beliefs, and its laws. Today's radicals, whether in Iran or as newcomers in Western societies, apparently consider this a view worth fighting to uphold.
As far as Western countries are concerned, radicalization appears to rest on three things: education in many Muslim schools, upbringing in unintegrated Muslim families, and the intensity of close-knit Muslim communities.
When implemented, these measures will certainly increase the likelihood of long-term deradicalization. But more still needs to be done to prevent the spread and acceptance of radical views in the first place.

On February 3, 2020, Sudesh Amman, who had just been released from prison in England after serving half his prison term, stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, before he was shot dead at the scene by police. Amman was one of the top five terrorist risk people in the country and was known still to possess extremist views, yet the parole board did not assess him before setting him free. Pictured: Police officers at the scene of Amman's terror attack. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)

In the first part of this analysis, "Can Terrorists be Deradicalized? Part I," of the ongoing threat of Islamic radicalism in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, it seems to have proven difficult to take convicted terrorists and turn them into pious Muslims who repudiate violence.

The great irony, as some reports have shown, is that the very fact of being imprisoned or, in some instances, being trained in deradicalization courses can actually result in further radicalization. So far, not enough work has been done to identify and act on this problem, but it has been recognized by experts such as Ian Acheson. And the UK government has published important findings on the subject.

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Canada's Conservatives Welcome Extremists, Reject Reformers

by Jakob Glogauer • August 20, 2020 at 4:00 am

The Conservative Party of Canada might favor extremist Muslims in order to secure more votes and broaden the party "base." All the while, Muslim reformers with a long history of loyalty to the party are being rejected, and not chosen as candidates. Party members who oppose advancing Sharia law and who run for leadership positions are disqualified.

Under Canada's former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, extremists were not welcome in the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), which he co-founded. Today, frontrunners in the CPC leadership race, Peter MacKay and Erin O'Toole, have each welcomed prominent extremist activists into their campaigns. Pictured: Harper appears at a campaign rally in London, Ontario on October 13, 2015. (Photo by Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and current Conservative leadership candidate Peter MacKay co-founded the modern Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) based on the promotion of "freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law." Canada's right-wing, however, has recently been consorting with Islamists patently opposed to these fundamental ideals.

Across the Western world, extremist Muslims have long partnered with the Left, perhaps out of a shared partiality for identity politics; or, at the very least, because progressive movements can easily be exploited to advance radical causes. Now, however, even the Conservative establishment is courting Islamist activists and politicians. At the federal level, frontrunners in the CPC leadership race, Peter MacKay and Erin O'Toole, have each welcomed prominent extremist activists into their campaigns.

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