Britain’s criminalisation of Muslim children

Dilly Hussain
Thursday 9 July 2015 11:16 UTC

In focusing solely on 'Islamist ideology' as a precursor to violent extremism, the government shows it isn't serious about tackling the problem of radicalisation

As Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London, I recall finishing my final AS Level exam when news broke of death and carnage in the capital. My sister, who worked in the city, was the first person that came to my mind as she commuted from Bedford to London every day.

But a more daunting thought consumes me whenever the 9/11 and 7/7 anniversaries arrive, and that is the measures that Britain took in response to these terrorist attacks. The government’s politically selective “one minute of silence” to remember those who were murdered in cold blood on 7/7 aside, the fact that senior security officials like Baroness Manningham-Buller warned of terrorist blowback prior to Britain invading Iraq cannot be ignored.
War on terror generation

As a British Muslim who grew up in the war on terror era, I have witnessed how the UK government’s counter-terrorism and anti-extremism laws have regressed, and become more Draconian as time progressed. Spying on Muslim children and students as a state policy was widely unheard of until recently, or at the very least, monitoring pupils for signs of “radicalisation” and extremism was not advocated by senior politicians so frequently and casually.

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