The Prevent strategy targets Muslims (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Home secretary Priti Patel plans to make the racist Prevent scheme even more Islamophobic. Patel said the scheme—which monitors people for signs of “extremism”—has failed to identify people who then committed murders.
That means Muslims could soon face even more spying and repression at the hands of the British state. The push comes after Ali Harbi Ali was last week given a life sentence for the murder of MP David Amess.
Patel said “things need to change” after she received a long-awaited review of the scheme. She has been criticised by those on the hard right for not being tough enough on Muslims referred to the scheme. So she wants a harsher crack down on Muslims because Prevent referrals have increasingly been made for people showing sympathy for far right ideas, not its intended targets.
William Shawcross—who is carrying out the review—once warned of “a vast fifth column” of Muslims in Europe who “wish to destroy us”. And he described “Britain’s humiliation” by “mass immigration” and multiculturalism. He also supports torture at Guantanamo Bay.
Prevent predominantly targets Muslims for signs of “extremism” such as opposing British wars, supporting Palestine, or wearing religious clothes. Now Shawcroft’s review—and Patel’s expected changes—look set to turn the screw even tighter on Muslims.
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