How Islamist terrorists behind four attacks were ALL referred to Prevent

How Islamist terrorists behind four attacks were ALL referred to Prevent
How Islamist terrorists behind four attacks were ALL referred to Prevent
Attacks by Islamist terrorists who had been referred to Prevent  

SOUTHEND - October 15, 2021: Tory MP Sir David Amess was fatally stabbed outside Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea near Southend while attending a constituency surgery. The Met declared it a terrorist incident. Suspect Ali Harbi Ali, 25, was referred to Prevent seven years ago. 

READING - June 20, 2020: Khairi Saadallah, 27, fatally stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, in a knife attack at a town centre park. He later admitted the murders and was sentenced to a whole life order in prison. The Reading Refugee Support Group warned Prevent officials he could carry out a 'London Bridge-style attack'. However, he was found to not have a 'fixed ideology, the Independent reported. 

STREATHAM - February 2, 2020: Sudesh Amman was shot dead by police after stabbing two people on a busy street in the south London area of Streatham while wearing a fake suicide vest. He was referred to Prevent but the panel decided his case did not require intervention. 

LONDON BRIDGE - November 29, 2019: Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were stabbed to death by Usman Khan, 28, at a prisoner rehabilitation event. A man and two women were also injured before Khan, who was released from prison on licence in December 2018, was shot dead by armed officers on the bridge. An inquest heard his Prevent officers had 'no specific training' in handling terrorists. 

PARSONS GREEN - September 15, 2017: Ahmed Hassan's homemade bomb partially exploded on a London Underground rush hour train, injuring more than 50 people. He was sentenced to life with a minimum jail term of 34 years. He was referred to Prevent 20 months before he planted the bomb.  

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Islamist terrorists behind four recent attacks and the suspect in Tory MP David Amess' murder were all referred to Prevent, yet six lives have been lost since 2018 as critics accuse the scheme of focusing on the far less deadly threat of right-wing extremism.  

Ian Acheson, a former prison governor and senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, said the official narrative that the far-right is the fastest growing threat is a 'comfort blanket' obscuring the 'patently more potent threat of Islamist extremism'. 

'The body count does not lie,' he said. 

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, the suspected terrorist accused of murdering Tory MP David Amess on Friday, was referred to the programme seven years ago but his case was not deemed enough of a risk to be passed on to MI5. 

Khairi Saadallah, 27, fatally stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, in a Reading park in June 2020. 

Prevent officials were warned he could carry out a 'London Bridge-style attack', but he was assessed and found to have 'no fixed ideology', the Independent reported. 

Another terrorist referred to Prevent was Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, last February. However, a panel decided his case did not require intervention. 

Usman Khan, 28, who stabbed two young graduates to death after a prisoner rehabilitation event on London Bridge, had come into contact with Prevent officers who had 'no specific training' in handling terrorists, an inquest heard.  

Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan was also referred to the anti-terror scheme 20 months before he planted a device on the Tube that injured 50 people during rush hour in 2017. That same year right-wing terrorist Darren Osborne drove into a group of worshippers at Finsbury Park Mosque, killing one of them. 

In recent years, much of Prevent's resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, which made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows. 

By comparison, in 2015/16, 262 cases (69%) were for Muslim extremism and 98 (26%) for far right. The number of cases counted as serious far-right extremism has increased year on year since then, while Islamist ones have fluctuated.  

In an article for Capex, Mr Acheson warned that allowing Prevent to be run by councils in partnership with local groups was allowing the scheme to be taken over by activists exploiting concerns about Islamophobia to challenge the whole concept of de-radicalisation. 

He called for the government to take more control over the programme and to orientate it away from a local 'safeguarding' referral system and towards providing a 'narrower, more muscular security response'. 

The Home Office has been approached for comment.  

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, the suspected terrorist accused of murdering Tory MP David Amess on Friday, was referred to the programme seven years ago but his case was not deemed enough of a risk to be passed on to MI5

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, the suspected terrorist accused of murdering Tory MP David Amess on Friday, was referred to the programme seven years ago but his case was not deemed enough of a risk to be passed on to MI5

Khairi Saadallah, 27, fatally stabbed friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, in a Reading park in June 2020. Prevent officials were warned he could carry out a 'London Bridge-style attack', but he was assessed and found to have 'no fixed ideology', according to reports

Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, last February. However, a panel decided his case did not require intervention

Reading attacker Khairi Saadallah, 27, (left) was assessed by Prevent officials but found to have 'no fixed ideology', according to reports. Sudesh Amman, who stabbed two people in Streatham, south London, last February. However, a panel decided his case did not require intervention

Usman Khan, 28, who stabbed two young graduates to death after a prisoner rehabilitation event on London Bridge, had come into contact with Prevent officers who had 'no specific training' in handling terrorists, an inquest heard

Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan was also referred to the anti-terror scheme 20 months before he planted a device on the Tube that injured 50 people during rush hour in 2017

Usman Khan, 28, (left) who stabbed two young graduates to death after a prisoner rehabilitation event on London Bridge, had come into contact with Prevent officers who had 'no specific training' in handling terrorists, an inquest heard. Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan was also referred to the anti-terror scheme 20 months before he planted a device on the Tube that injured 50 people during rush hour in 2017

This week a new report claimed Prevent had been hijacked by political correctness which was skewing it away from the threat posed by Islamic terrorism. 

The devastating analysis accused police and others who oversee the Prevent scheme of allowing its work to be swayed by 'false allegations of Islamophobia'.

The report claimed, as a result, anti-terror resources are being diverted away from the principal terror threat – Islamist extremism.

Prevent is said to be spending growing amounts of time and money combating other types of extremists, such as the far-Right, even though they make up a smaller proportion of the threat to national security.

The report by counter-terrorism think-tank the Henry Jackson Society said the beleaguered scheme was 'failing to deliver'.

Dr Alan Mendoza, of the society, said: 'The Prevent scheme has been hamstrung by political correctness following a well-organised campaign by Islamist groups and the political Left of false allegations of ''Islamophobia'' so that its work is skewed away from the gravest threat – that of radical Islam.'

The report said there is a 'fundamental mismatch' between the threat posed by Islamist terrorism and the attention given to it by Prevent.

Home Office figures show 22 per cent of all referrals to Prevent relate to Islamist extremists while 24 per cent are for neo-Nazi or other far-Right extremists.

Among cases actually taken up by the Prevent scheme in its Channel programme – which mentors individuals to turn them away from terrorist causes – 30 per cent relate to Islamists compared with 43 per cent who are far-Right.

The British Muslim academic who compiled the report, Dr Rakib Ehsan, said: 'The Prevent scheme's central aim is to reduce the UK's overall terror threat and maximise public safety. At the moment, it is failing to deliver on this front.' 

The UK's flagship anti-terror strategy is being undermined by a politically correct emphasis on right-wing extremism over more dangerous Islamist radicalism, critics have said - as a review prepares to overhaul the 'broken' system

In recent years, much of its resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, which made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows

In recent years, much of its resources have been diverted to tracking suspected right-wing extremists, which made up 43% (302) of cases considered among the most serious last year compared to just 30% (210) concerning Islamism, official data shows

Since 2015/16, there has been an 80% drop in the number of initial referrals over concerns of Islamic radicalisation and a steady increase in those concerning far-right beliefs

Since 2015/16, there has been an 80% drop in the number of initial referrals over concerns of Islamic radicalisation and a steady increase in those concerning far-right beliefs

How does the controversial Prevent scheme work?  

Under the Prevent programme, local authority staff and other professionals such as doctors, teachers and social workers have a duty to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into a terrorism. 

This report is then be passed to a local

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