The Contested Shawcross Review of PREVENT: Anti-Terrorism or Anti-Islam?

On 8 February 2023, the long-awaited report – The Independent Review of Prevent – conducted by the commissioner for public appointments William Shawcross, was published after much skepticism, delay and controversy, even from within the cabinet.[1]  The Prevent Duty, born in the wake of 9/11 as part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, places a duty…

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The Backlash against the “Delegitimising Counter-Terrorism” Report

On April 26th 2022, Policy Exchange (a UK educational think tank) released a report “Delegitimising Counter-Terrorism: The Activist Campaign to Demonise Prevent”. Authored by Sir John Jenkins (British Diplomat), Dr Damon L. Perry (Senior Research Fellow), and Dr Paul Stott (Head of Security and Extremism ) the report was written in response to the “People’s Review…

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“The Trojan horse Affair”: The call for an independent inquiry

The Trojan Horse scandal centred on an anonymous letter that was leaked to Birmingham’s City Council (United Kingdom) in 20131. It alleged that teachers and governors in certain schools, within predominantly Muslim areas of Birmingham, were being “systematically overthrown and replaced by people who would run the schools according conservative Islamic principles”2. The photocopy of…

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US Secretary of State urges The UK and France to let jihadis return

At the summit of the international coalition against ISIS (an 83-nation coalition), held in Rome on June 28th, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated “The United States continues to urge countries – including coalition partners – to repatriate, rehabilitate and, where applicable, prosecute its citizens“1. According to the Guardian, these remarks were primarily…

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The New French Bill Against Terrorism

On June the 3rd 2021, the bill to “prevent acts of terrorism and (reinforce) French Security services” was voted by the French National Assembly. The text acceptedin its first reading, must now be adopted by the Senate, the second chamber of French parliament. While the government has been working on the bill for some months,…

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