More than three quarters of British jihadists have been involved with non-violent Islamist groups before turning to foreign fighting and carrying out terrorist attacks, a report has indicated.
Islamist groups have acted as a recruitment pool for dozens of jihadists who have gone on to join al-Qaeda, Islamic State and other terrorist groups, according to research by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Researchers examined the biographies of 113 people from across the UK who had joined the jihadist movement, from the 1980s to the Syrian civil war. The institute’s report says that at least 77 per cent of the sample had links to Islamism, either through association with Islamist organisations or by connections to those who spread the extremist ideology.
Such groups invoke their right to free speech but the report argues that the authorities need to take a tighter grip on such preaching. They include al-Muhajiroun, run by the hate preacher Anjem Choudary, who has been linked to multiple plots and attacks and is in prison for supporting Isis.
Choudary is one of six individuals who the report claims have shaped the British movement, with 67 per cent of British jihadists tied either directly or indirectly to them. The others are Omar Bakri Mohammed, Choudary’s mentor; Abu Hamza, who preached at the Finsbury Park mosque and is in jail in the US; Abdullah el-Faisal,who was deported to Jamaica in 2007; Abu Qatada, a radical cleric deported to Jordan; and Hani al-Sibai, a preacher who lives in London.
The report makes a string of other findings. The researchers found that 58 per cent of the men had spent time in prison and all but 13 per cent of them had been incarcerated for crimes related to jihadism. It said: “Seven individuals served time in young offender institutions, and at least four were believed to be radicalised in prison. Many are well-educated. Thirty-one per cent started a degree, and over half of these studied Stemm [Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine] subjects.”
Nearly a third of those with degrees studied humanities or social sciences and four read Islamic studies. Five dropped out of their course before graduating.
The research also indicated that women were more likely to be radicalised online than men. It said: “At least 44 per cent of our sample of women were partly radicalised online, for half of whom there were no known Islamist links in person.
“In contrast, only 4 per cent of men in our sample had an online element noted in their radicalisation.”