Panorama.S2014E19.From.Jail.To.Jihad

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Panorama.S2014E19.From.Jail.To.Jihad
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00:00Tonight, the convict released from prison into the arms of Islamic extremists.
00:10When did you first embrace Islam?
00:122006.
00:13While she was in prison.
00:15The friend of one of the Woolwich killers who converted others behind bars.
00:20It was becoming Muslim in front of the prison officers and they felt sort of powerless,
00:24you know.
00:26The prison service worried about the threat of radicalisation.
00:30What concerns me most is that there is a significant risk given the fact that we manage some very
00:35dangerous people.
00:37And we go inside to see what impact that can have on the outside.
00:42In prison, people say when you come out, brother, you should go and fight, fight in Syria.
00:55This is a journey to find out how the threat of Islamic extremism is being dealt with in
01:10the one place with the greatest concentration of terrorists and extremists.
01:16The prison system.
01:17I'm on my way to Manchester Prison where a prisoner who converted to Islam whilst in
01:23prison is going to be released.
01:29He'll be met by fellow Muslims who have driven up from London.
01:37Among the group who have made the trip are convicted extremists Abdul Mahid and Mizanur
01:42Rahman.
01:45How do you think it's perceived, you being here today, by the prison service, the police,
01:51the counter-terrorism units?
01:53I don't really care, to be honest with you.
01:54The police are on a witch hunt.
01:56So they will have the attitude of, well, you know, what are they up to?
02:01Forget about the fact that he needs to get from Manchester to London somehow.
02:08After a three-hour wait, Michael Koh, whose Islamic name is now Mikhail Ibrahim, is released.
02:22He was jailed in 2006 for eight years for threatening police officers with a shotgun
02:29while out on parole for a knife-point carjacking.
02:33He went in a gangster and came out a convert to Islam.
02:37What's going on?
02:38How do you feel about your brothers coming to meet you today?
02:43Obviously, this is the love of the brotherhood, this love.
02:46They come to get me.
02:47They come to bring me back 300-odd miles and I love them for the sake of Allah.
02:53When did you first embrace Islam?
02:552006.
02:56While she was in prison?
02:57While she was in prison, yeah.
02:59I want to find out what attracted this 33-year-old from East London to Islam.
03:06Even though I wasn't Muslim, I always hung around with Muslims.
03:09And, you know, after a little time, it rubs off on you, innit?
03:11You start listening to people and believing people and, you know, in the end, I decided
03:15this is the way forward.
03:18My life has been much better since.
03:21One of the people who showed him the way forward was Abdul Mahid, who's been convicted
03:26of terror-related offences.
03:28Mikhal Ibrahim had already converted to Islam by the time they'd met in prison.
03:34I was on a different wing and then I got transferred across to the unit and then from there we
03:38just became friends over there.
03:39We started talking.
03:40He was teaching me about Islam.
03:41He was much more knowledgeable than me.
03:42So he taught me some of the stuff that I didn't know.
03:45In turn, he was suspected of taking other inmates under his wing and radicalising them.
03:52Some particular officers was asking other Muslim inmates, am I radicalising them?
03:56Then they went behind my back to non-Muslim inmates and said, oh, is he trying to bring
03:59people to Islam?
04:01That's what they seemed to fear.
04:05Inmates identified as a potential threat because of their extreme views are usually met by police
04:11or probation when they are released on licence.
04:15But because Mikhal Ibrahim has served all of his sentence, he's free to be met by Mahid
04:20and Rahman.
04:21UK, you will pay!
04:22UK, you will pay!
04:23We'll let the hand on his way!
04:24Rahman, seen here, took part in the Danish embassy protest against a cartoonist accused
04:36of belittling the Prophet Muhammad.
04:39He was jailed for four years for inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder.
04:47Mahid was also at the protest.
04:49He was jailed for four years for soliciting murder and also for encouraging others to
04:54fundraise for terrorism.
05:02Over the last ten years, the number of Muslims in prison has doubled to nearly 12,000.
05:08That's one in seven prisoners.
05:10The prison service can't tell us how many have converted inside or how many are adopting
05:15radical views.
05:18What we do know is that there are around 100 Islamist terrorists behind bars and around
05:23500 more have been identified with links to extremist groups.
05:31It does concern me that radicalisation is taking place in prison and I feel that more
05:37of a holistic approach needs to be taken in combating it.
05:42Ismail Lee South has worked with Muslim offenders before and after their release.
05:47He's come across prisoners who've been radicalised during their time inside.
05:53He says some are being encouraged to go and fight in Syria and this is a big concern for
05:58the security services since the deaths of British jihadis there.
06:04They'll be saying things like the foreign policy issue is oppressing our Muslim brothers
06:10and sisters abroad, we need to go abroad to fight the infidels who are oppressing our
06:17brothers and sisters and we have to establish Sharia law.
06:24The prison service says the radicalisation of Muslim inmates is rare but when it happens
06:30it's serious.
06:35Shoe bomber Richard Reid who tried to blow up an aeroplane converted in prison.
06:40So too did Jermaine Grant, now on trial in Kenya, accused of being part of a bomb plot.
06:48Abdul Mia, convicted of plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange, was radicalised inside.
06:56What concerns me most is that there is a significant risk given the fact that we manage some very
07:00dangerous people and our job is to minimise that risk becoming a reality, so minimise
07:08the risk that somebody in prison becomes radicalised and commits a terrorist offence.
07:13Our job is to protect the public, that's what we do every day and what worries me is whenever
07:19we fail to do that, in a whole range of different potential scenarios, people could be hurt.
07:28It's now four days since prison convert Mikhal Ibrahim was released from jail.
07:34Today he's joined a protest against the sale of alcohol in London's Brick Lane.
07:39It's been organised by Abdul Mehid and Mizanur Rahman who met Mikhal from prison.
07:46Those who serve alcohol, those who make alcohol, they will all be cursed.
07:51They want Sharia law to replace democracy in the UK.
07:55They follow Anjum Chowdhury, one-time key player of radical group Al-Muhajirun, until
08:01it was banned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
08:04Chowdhury's presence sparks anger from people taking part in a larger unrelated rally nearby.
08:11This guy's a clown, he represents nothing about Islam.
08:14Not that, he's not our friend.
08:18Mikhal Ibrahim appears to be acting as the controversial cleric's minder.
08:23And you know something, yeah, you're a big fool as well because the other Muslims know anything, only you guys.
08:28You've been out of prison a week, you come to a meeting like this, people get a little bit upset.
08:31I just came here, I just came, I was passing through.
08:34Came to see some of my friends, that's it.
08:36You saw that, I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything.
08:40It's because of who you're around, do you not think?
08:43I mean, whether it's good or bad, it's because of who you're around, people think that it's trouble.
08:47Yeah, but the people, it says that the people upon the right path will always be in the minority.
08:54He's adopted the same thinking of those around him.
08:59They sell alcohol, it's not allowed.
09:01The Quran curses alcohol, anyone who makes it, transports it, drinks it, consumes it,
09:05passes it on to someone else, they're all cursed, all of them.
09:09Today's protest passes off peacefully enough.
09:12It's been all talk, but when talk turns to action, the consequences can be deadly serious.
09:19Christmas Eve 2012 and radical Islamists are protesting outside St Paul's Cathedral
09:26and Jim Chowdhury is present, so is Mikhail Ibrahim while out of prison on licence.
09:33Also there, convert Jordan Horner, who's taken an Islamic name.
09:39My name's Abu Dawood.
09:41He didn't convert in prison, he embraced Islam on the streets of London as a teenager.
09:47Within two years, he was voicing extreme views.
09:51I hate everything that is associated to British society,
09:54because it's all disobedient to the commandments of God
09:57and every bit of British society will be in the hellfire on the day of judgement.
10:01The man on the right is Michael Adebowale.
10:04Soon the Sharia's going to be all over the whole world.
10:08Less than five months later, he murdered soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.
10:13The other man is Royal Barnes.
10:15He's currently in prison for glorifying the soldier's murder.
10:19Before he was sent down for that and other crimes,
10:22he and Horner filmed their attempt to bring Sharia law back to Britain.
10:27We don't respect those who disobey God. We don't respect them.
10:30I'm so appalled.
10:32We don't care if you're appalled at all.
10:34It's Great Britain.
10:36We don't care. It's not so Great Britain.
10:38Not so Great Britain. Do you understand?
10:40Not so Great when there's vigilantes like this.
10:42Vigilantes implementing Islam upon you.
10:44We don't care.
10:46We don't care.
10:48We don't care.
10:50We don't care.
10:52We don't care.
10:54We don't care.
10:56We don't care.
10:58This night-time intimidation led to the arrest of both Barnes and Horner.
11:03Horner was jailed for 16 months.
11:06Unlike Mikhail Ibrahim, who went into prison a common criminal,
11:11Horner was sent to jail as a convicted extremist
11:14and used the time inside to convert other inmates.
11:21Prison officers in Thameside witnessed people become Muslim,
11:25meaning in front of them, I was giving them what we call shahada,
11:28an invitation and acceptance of Islam.
11:31They were becoming Muslim in front of the prison officers
11:34and they felt sort of powerless.
11:36They said I was trying to divide Muslims from non-Muslims,
11:40trying to get them to follow an extreme version of Islam.
11:47In less than a year, Horner was transferred four times
11:50to try to stop him radicalising other inmates.
11:53This is an important tactic deployed by the prison service.
11:59If somebody is gaining authority or a hierarchy within a prison,
12:05moving that individual, disrupting that hierarchy,
12:08can be a very effective tool at making sure the type of radicalisation
12:12that you're referring to doesn't take place.
12:15But according to Horner, moving him from prison to prison didn't work
12:19and may have helped spread his views.
12:23Obviously, in Thameside, a lot of people became Muslim.
12:26In Glenparva, they restricted me a lot,
12:28but I still spoke to people about Islam.
12:30They didn't like that. They sent me back to Feltham.
12:32When another individual on the wing became Muslim,
12:34they moved me from that wing to another wing
12:36on the basis that I had forced them to become Muslim.
12:41I want to find out more about what makes some convicted criminals
12:45turn to extreme Islam
12:47and what the prison service is doing to try to stop it.
12:53There are about ten convicted terrorists
12:56at Whitemore High Security Prison
12:58and around three times as many inmates with extremist views.
13:04Governor Damien Evans says these prisoners pose a risk
13:08that has to be managed.
13:11It is a challenge for staff to distinguish
13:13between what is the proper practice of Islam
13:16and what might be a particular threat.
13:19My staff are highly experienced.
13:21They're very, very good at observing prisoners,
13:24forming appropriate relationships with them,
13:26gathering intelligence and gathering information.
13:30They've also been trained in what to look out for
13:33in terms of potential radicalising behaviour.
13:38But Mizanul Rahman, who spent time in another high-security prison,
13:43says this type of close monitoring
13:45can make Muslim prisoners feel stigmatised.
13:48People embracing Islam were seen as radicalism.
13:51People praying together, and that is a very basic tenet of Islam,
13:55that we pray in congregation.
13:57It's better to pray together than to pray alone.
13:59That has nothing to do with radicalism or extremism,
14:02but it was treated and seen as radicalism.
14:06Whitemore has the highest proportion of Muslim inmates
14:09of any jail in the UK, more than 40%.
14:14Like the majority of British Muslims, most are moderate,
14:17and the governor says it would be wrong to view Muslim prisoners
14:21through the lens of extremism.
14:25It's very important that we recognise
14:28that the vast majority of practice of Islam within prison
14:32is fundamentally a good thing.
14:34Islam offers a sense of belonging, brotherhood and friendship,
14:38and it's important we recognise that.
14:41And Islam very often can provide good opportunities
14:44for personal change and development.
14:47But one former prisoner recently released after serving nine years
14:51in various prisons for armed robbery
14:54says there are other reasons why criminals convert to Islam.
14:59In your first offender and you come into prison,
15:02you see a lot of, as they're called, gangsters or whatever,
15:05and they want protection and they see that,
15:09a lot of Muslim brothers stick together,
15:11they practice their religion just to not get harmed by any other people
15:15because they know that if you mess with one Muslim,
15:18you mess with them all, you know what I mean?
15:22Becoming a Muslim in prison may offer safety in numbers,
15:26but on the other hand, many Muslim inmates say they feel unsafe.
15:32After Abdul-Mahid was released from prison,
15:35he started a new life in prison.
15:38He started a campaign called Muslim Prisoners.
15:44Today, he's outside Paddington Green Police Station,
15:47where many terrorist suspects are held.
15:50He says he was badly treated in prison
15:53and believes many other Muslims are too.
15:58I was transferred to Franklin the week after a massive riot
16:01and I was the first Muslim that the guys in prison can get hold of
16:07and so they burnt my cell while I was away from my prison cell
16:11and a week later, somebody attempted to stab me.
16:18Muslim prisoners tell us they feel less safe than non-Muslim prisoners
16:22and they've done that consistently now for a number of years.
16:25They feel threatened by other prisoners
16:28and sometimes they'll feel threatened by staff.
16:31The danger of prisoners feeling unsafe is they look for protection
16:36and if they don't feel they're being protected by staff,
16:39they'll join a group that they think can provide that protection.
16:45It's that sense of feeling unsafe and seeking protection
16:49that some fear can play into the hands of extremists
16:52seeking to radicalise their fellow inmates.
16:58One of the first things they do is,
17:00they say, look, if anyone troubles you, tell me, we'll deal with them.
17:04If anyone tries to bully you, tries to take liberties with you,
17:07you're our akhi, you're our brother, we'll defend you.
17:10So it's just like the same way it is in the school playground,
17:14the same way it's in the prison.
17:18But rather than offer extremists the chance to spread their ideology,
17:22prisons should be the one place where it can be challenged by the state.
17:27Key to this is the prison service's specially vetted imams.
17:33We therefore have a very strong group of imams
17:37to support Muslims in prison, to understand the Islamic faith,
17:41which is not about extremism and hatred.
17:47We asked to interview a prison imam, but the prison service said no.
17:52Part of an imam's job is to decide what inmates can read and watch
17:56in order to follow their faith.
18:03This is the list from White Mall Prison of the DVDs and books
18:07inmates are allowed.
18:09On it is a DVD by the radical preacher Bilal Phillips.
18:13He was stopped from entering the UK in 2010
18:17after appearing to justify suicide bombing.
18:25I've seen the DVD, and although it's not extreme,
18:30I still wanted to know why it was allowed at White Mall.
18:35He's been banned from entering the UK by the Home Secretary,
18:39yet his material is allowed in a prison, is that right?
18:42As I've said to you, governors have the authority to ban material.
18:47I don't know what that material is or says.
18:50It's for the governor to make that decision.
18:53The prison service says the contents of the DVD do not contravene
18:58the existing restrictions, but it's considering how best to deal
19:02with material from people who are excluded from the UK.
19:09Back on the outside, it's now four months since I last saw Mikail Ibrahim.
19:14I've come to see if he turns up at another protest
19:17organised by Mizanur Rahman and Abdul Mahid,
19:21the men who met him at the prison gates.
19:25Like many of their protests, they're confronted by the far right.
19:32He arrives with Abu Izzedine, who was jailed for inciting terrorism abroad
19:37and terrorist fundraising.
19:39They met in prison.
19:44Mikail Ibrahim told me more about his life.
19:47Now he's a free man.
19:49When you haven't got a cause for your life, OK,
19:53your life is just like any of these other...
19:56We try to make as much money, sleep with as much women as we can
19:59and do whatever else we can.
20:01I have a cause. I want to see the establishment of Khilafat.
20:04I want to see Islamic State.
20:06Changed person? Completely changed, 100%.
20:09He's now being promoted as a role model.
20:14In this video made in 2012, while he was out of prison on licence,
20:19the role model reveals how 9-11 was an inspiration.
20:24And I was just thinking to myself, laying on my soul,
20:26and they were saying Bin Laden.
20:27Already, I don't know how they knew, but within a day,
20:29they knew they were trying to say it was Bin Laden, yeah?
20:32So I was just thinking, oh, my God, this man is a gangster.
20:35This man is on top.
20:36You know, this is one guy taking on the whole might of a country.
20:40That I can respect. Wallahi.
20:42That's the sort of stuff that also initially drew me to Islam.
20:46But it was a terrorist he met five years later
20:49inside Franklin Prison near Durham
20:51who convinced him to convert to Islam.
20:54You know one brother that was on to me, Demir Barrett, by the way?
20:57He's doing 40 years for no reason.
20:59But him, he said to me,
21:00why, why don't you come to Islam? All the time.
21:03Deron Barrett is one of the UK's most dangerous terrorists.
21:07This reconnaissance video filmed by Barrett of New York landmarks
21:11was seized in 2004 during a police investigation
21:15into the 42-year-old from London.
21:18300 computers, his chemical handbook
21:21and terrorist training notes were also discovered.
21:25The Hindu who converted to Islam had also filmed the Twin Towers
21:30in a way that suggested he knew what was coming.
21:36It was in prison serving a minimum of 30 years
21:39that Barrett gave Mikhail Ibrahim the invitation to Islam known as Dawa.
21:46He was opposite me, opposite cell to me,
21:48so from then the first thing, as soon as he saw me,
21:51he just came over to me and said, are you Muslim?
21:53I said, no, but I've been learning a little bit.
21:55He said, brother, trust me, there's nothing but Islam.
21:57And he was giving me Dawa for about two weeks
21:59because two weeks after that I got taken to the block
22:01and moved to another prison.
22:02But within that week, brother, the Dawa that he gave me,
22:05it hit me where no-one else's Dawa hit me.
22:09And that's a problem for the prison service.
22:12Converts like Ibrahim are part of a growing Muslim prison population
22:16which is white or Afro-Caribbean.
22:20But many prison imams don't share their experience or background.
22:27Most of the prisoners that I've seen in prison, they're UK born and bred.
22:31So, i.e., they eat fish and chips, they watch EastEnders now and again.
22:35So you need someone or you need someone other than the imam
22:40to liaise with them on their level.
22:42The sad reality is a lot of the imams who are in prison,
22:45a lot of them are not UK born.
22:47So this leaves a big gulf of separation.
22:52So what's happened is sometimes the person with the largest clout,
22:56the biggest mouth, the biggest brawn,
22:59they're seen as the imam in the prison.
23:02There are some cases where people won't have confidence in the imam
23:06and certainly it would be wrong to sort of load all the responsibility
23:10for dealing with this onto the imam.
23:12So I think extremism is a security issue.
23:17Deren Barrett, the al-Qaeda terrorist,
23:19was moved from Franklin Prison to Fort Sutton near York.
23:23It was there last May that three men associated with him
23:27carried out an attack which rocked the prison service.
23:30It happened just four days after the killing of Lee Rigby.
23:37Faraz Khan, Fuad Awali and convert David Watson
23:41are all convicted murderers serving life sentences.
23:50They became devout inside, growing beards and praying five times a day.
23:55But there were also signs of radicalisation.
23:59Khan had walked out of Friday prayers
24:01after the imam offered condolences to the Rigby family.
24:07He told a prison officer Muslims have a duty to fight back
24:11and that's why people were getting killed.
24:19Just after 4pm, Khan and his accomplices Awali and Watson lay in wait.
24:25Their target, prison officer Richard Thompson,
24:28who they thought had been in the military.
24:31They took Thompson by surprise and bundled him into a room.
24:36Awali threatened the prison officer with a makeshift knife.
24:47The three inmates were now in control.
24:50Khan then made his demands over the prison tannoy,
24:53the release of a radical cleric
24:55and a woman who attempted to murder an MP.
25:00Peace be upon you. We have taken an officer hostage.
25:06Thompson suffered a fractured cheekbone during the siege,
25:10which only ended when his attackers were persuaded to surrender.
25:16Khan and Awali were found guilty of threats to kill
25:19and Khan also of assault,
25:21but all three were cleared of false imprisonment.
25:25Do you think the incident in Fort Staten was an act of terrorism?
25:29I think it was a serious and unacceptable criminal act
25:34and it's not for me to define whether it's terrorism or not.
25:37It was a pretty horrific incident for the officer to go through.
25:44After the siege, the three men were moved to other prisons.
25:48It was at Belmarsh High Security Prison
25:51that Jordan Horner says he met two of them.
25:55I was in segregation with Wa'ad Awali
25:57and I was on main population with Brother Khan.
26:00These people are beautiful individuals who love Allah and Islam.
26:05It's been eight years since the government's prevent strategy
26:09to combat the spread of radical Islam was rolled out in prisons.
26:14Some programmes have been introduced to challenge the extremist mindset,
26:19but these courses are voluntary
26:21and few convicted terrorists and extremists have been willing to engage.
26:27You can't force somebody to change a view
26:30and there is no evidence of anyone forcing somebody to change a view.
26:34We've got to work very hard, sometimes over a very long period,
26:37in order to make effective change with people.
26:41Did they attempt to de-radicalise you?
26:43De-radicalisation system.
26:46To a certain extent, I'd say there's only so much they can do.
26:51When you allow me to come out for association,
26:53you're giving me the ability to praise Allah as a congregation amongst Muslims.
26:57So even in the hardest of times,
26:59there's always a blessing that Muslims can take out of the prison system.
27:03On the outside, the government is now giving extremists like Jordan Horner less choice.
27:08He's the first person to be given a new type of anti-social behaviour order.
27:13The aim is to restrict him.
27:16These conditions have been put on me,
27:18says that you can't do the basics of Islam.
27:21You can't invite people to Islam,
27:23I can't make any unsolicited approach to any individual
27:26speaking about the concepts of Sharia law.
27:28And how long is this as though...?
27:30Five years.
27:32But that means that all they're trying to do
27:34is they're trying to put as much restrictions on me for as long as possible
27:37so they can, you know, as they say, sleep well at night.
27:41But the authorities have limited control over Mikail Ibrahim.
27:45He's never been on a de-radicalisation programme
27:48inside or outside of prison, and doesn't believe he needs to.
27:53I follow the rules of Islam to a T.
27:56The people that teach me, they teach me only the akham of Islam.
28:00What the other people who have ulterior motives deem as extreme is their business.
28:05For me, it's not my business.
28:07And that's a big challenge for the prison system.
28:10All the former prisoners we've spoken to
28:13say the tactics used to challenge them don't work.
28:17But unless a way is found, what the prison service calls
28:20the small but significant risk of prisoners becoming radicalised
28:24could become a much bigger threat.
28:38Coming up, the amazing people of Sunderland turn out in force.
28:42DIY SOS is back for a big build next.
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28:48Go inside Brazil's famous Copacabana Palace Hotel now.
28:51And on BBC Three, teenage life in cars.
28:54Secret footage of our barely legal drivers.