Site Meter

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Ex-BNP activist 'recruiting prisoners to join al-Qa'ida'

Ex-BNP activist 'recruiting prisoners to join al-Qa'ida'

A former British National Party activist who converted to Islam in a maximum-security jail is being held in isolation on suspicion of trying to recruit fellow prisoners to terrorist groups.

Stephen Jones has been confined to a segregation unit in Whitemoor prison, Cambridgeshire, for three weeks while the intelligence services investigate his alleged links to al-Qa'ida.

It is thought to be the first time a prisoner has been put in isolation because of fears he was attempting to radicalise other inmates. The authorities were also said to be concerned about his safety. Two other Muslim prisoners are thought to be in the same unit.

Fears have been growing that extremist groups are using prisons as a fertile recruiting ground. Britain is believed to have more prisoners with terrorist sympathies than any other European country.

The Prison Officers' Association (POA) has called for extremist prisoners to be kept away from inmates who could be vulnerable to radicalisation
.

Well, this is certainly a new twist to the tale of the poacher turning gamekeeper...

5 comments:

CherryPie said...

He sounds a bit mixed up to me!

jailhouselawyer said...

Yes, and that could make him rather unpredictable and dangerous.

CherryPie said...

I agree, very scary indeed!

Anonymous said...

BNP activist converts to Islam?! The mind boggles. Perhaps it's a sick attempt to foment a race war - recruit people to Al-quaida, then see if they attack us long enough to get an extreme response.

James Higham said...

Says it all, John.