Report Reveals Rise of Muslim Brotherhood Influence in British Prisons… Details
As their numbers have increased in recent times, particularly with a rise in the proportion of women among them, concerns are mounting in London about the impact of inmates from Islamic extremist backgrounds, with two major gang factions led by Islamist extremists vying for control, while reports indicate that the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups have begun recruiting women.
According to a report from the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, clashes between the two sides escalated when discussions began about some inmates pouring hot cooking oil on other inmates, forcing them to read the Quran by force, as well as imposing Sharia law, leading to the formation of a gang bloc consisting of criminal convicts and prisoners from local gangs in the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, dubbed the “Piranhas”.
The newspaper pointed out that these phenomena have been growing over the years in large prisons such as Frankland and Long Lartin, stating that the “Piranhas” were a formation that emerged in the mid-first decade of the 21st century, created by gang leaders Richard Caswell and Chris Ashton.
Testimonies from former inmates and criminal convicts support reports that extremist gangs have their own soldiers to carry out acts of violence, and that the ongoing war between the factions is not based on religious motivation as much as on the desire to control the drug world, its sources, and its distribution, in a war that has claimed the lives of three extremists and criminals.
Fears are growing about the ability of judicial and security authorities to deal with extremist influence in prisons without being accused of racism against Muslims, especially with the increasing membership of inmates in these extremist Islamic formations.
Recent data from the British Ministry of Justice reveals a significant increase in the number of Muslims behind bars in Britain over the past thirty years, with a disproportionate number of white prisoners embracing Islam.
Ministry of Justice figures show that in September last year, there were 15,584 Muslim prisoners in England and Wales, compared to just 3,681 in 1997.
This 323% increase represents a large group of potential recruits for Islamic gangs in prisons, with figures indicating that 18% of all inmates are now known to be Muslims, nearly three times the percentage of 6.5% of the overall UK population.
Last month, it was revealed that 3,096 Muslim prisoners, nearly one in five, were white, compared to only 7.8% of white Muslims in the wider population, according to the Daily Mail report.
