Portsmouth Muslims work with police to deter youth from the lure of Syria
24 Apr 2014:
Parents get guidance to spot children's intentions, after 10 young people leave for Syria in the past six months
Parents get guidance to spot children's intentions, after 10 young people leave for Syria in the past six months
Portsmouth police and
community leaders are working to deter young people from joining the
conflict in Syria. Photograph: Ammar Abdullah/Reuters
One city facing up to the lure exerted by the conflict in Syria on its young people is Portsmouth.
At least eight men and two teenage girls have travelled from the naval
port to Turkey and on into Syria in the last six months.
Police and the security service are keen to point out that Portsmouth is not a hotspot, but an example of a nationwide phenomenon. Up to 500 young men and a handful of women, from cities and towns across England and Wales, are known to have travelled to Syria since the conflict began, many to join al-Qaida inspired groups such as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) and the al-Nusra Front.
Arrests across England and Wales on suspicion of terror offences related to Syria have spiked this year, with around 40 individuals detained in the first four months, compared to 25 arrests in the whole of 2013. While a handful of individuals have been charged, none of these cases have yet come to court.
Police forces have had some success appealing to parents who have suspicions about their children's activities. The arrest of two 17-year-old girls, one from West Yorkshire and the other London, at Heathrow in January, is understood to have followed a tipoff from a family member.
But the experience in Portsmouth – according to community leaders – is that in some cases mothers and fathers are the last people to find out what their children are up to.
Staff at the city's main Jami mosque say they are working closely with the police in an attempt to stop other young people from following in the footsteps of those who have already embarked for Syria.
They claim that the first inkling most of the parents had about their offsprings' plans came after they had gone.
Mosque member Suyeb Tanzam said: "Some of the parents found a letter on the door of their house from their child saying that they were going to Syria to fight against Assad.
"The parents came to us and we informed the police with them, but in many cases the police seemed to already know what had happened."
Mosque leaders believe some of those who have gone to Syria are motivated by the desire to do something to support the humanitarian effort, while others are driven to become fighters.
As well as the young men, at least two teenage girls are also understood to have travelled from Portsmouth to marry fighters linked to Islamist groups taking up arms against the Assad regime. One of the girls – aged 17 – has spoken in blog posts of how she gained permission from her father to travel to Syria to marry a fighter.
Leaflets printed by the city council, with the headline: "Syria … what's the real story?", which detail the dangers likely to be encountered by anyone who travels to the country either for humanitarian reasons or to fight, have been distributed outside the mosque.
President of the Jami mosque, Abdul Jalil said: "We would say it is not safe to go there. It is impossible for us to get a message to every one of the 1,000 people who come and pray here but we try our best to get a message out to young people who might be trying to go to Syria to help the people, to say to them: 'Don't risk your life. You can help in a different way.'
"We are working with the Red Cross to arrange for a representative from the local community to go with the humanitarian organisation to Syria to see how they are helping the people, and to bring that message back here. We hope that will help."
Mosque leaders say they have no problem if those who have gone to Syria are arrested on their return.
Mozib Khan, a member of the mosque committee, said: "What they are doing is misguided. People are asking what is going to happen when these people come back, and it is our view that it's better for them to be stopped by the police and be checked out when they come back. We need to let the police do their duty and let the law do its work. But we have said to the authorities make sure the community does not have something to react to, we have told them don't over do it."
One young man who will not be returning to his family home in Portsmouth is Ifthekar Jaman, a former public schoolboy who worked in customers services at Sky, and travelled to Syria last November. He was killed while taking part in an Isis assault on an arms depot in December.
Jaman was instrumental in encouraging other young men – his friends and peers – from the city to follow him. In social media posts he also urged women to come and marry fighters.
One of the young women who appears to have followed his call has posted regularly from Raqqah, a town in northern Syria which is the stronghold of Isis. The 17-year-old has talked about how her father had given permission for her to travel and marry a fighter, and warned other girls not to consider travelling out alone to find a husband, but to come with the approval of their father, or another guardian, and to travel with someone.
Before his death Jaman denied that he posed a threat to the UK. He told the BBC he rejected the claims of the police and security services that the war was creating a generation of violent jihadists, some of whom would come back and target the UK, and said he had no intention of returning home.
Despite his death, police attention seems to remain on Jaman. Two weeks ago his family home in the city was raided by anti-terrorist police who carried out two days of searches which they said were related to "issues overseas" rather than a threat to local communities or the UK.
Hampshire police – who are delivering the Home Office's Prevent programme, which attempts to intervene and stop other young people joining the fighting against Assad – have visited 3,500 students and 400 staff in schools and colleges across the county and are working in Portsmouth with the city council, local community leaders, school teachers and colleges.
DCI Peter Oliphant, the regional head of Prevent, said: "We are engaging with communities in order to prevent and discourage travel to Syria. Some may be risking their lives by travelling to Syria for humanitarian purposes, and others may be vulnerable to becoming involved in terrorist activity whilst there, even if that was not their original intention.
"I would encourage anyone who is concerned about a friend or family member who wishes to travel to Syria to contact police via their local neighbourhood policing team."
COPY http://www.theguardian.com/uk
Police and the security service are keen to point out that Portsmouth is not a hotspot, but an example of a nationwide phenomenon. Up to 500 young men and a handful of women, from cities and towns across England and Wales, are known to have travelled to Syria since the conflict began, many to join al-Qaida inspired groups such as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) and the al-Nusra Front.
Arrests across England and Wales on suspicion of terror offences related to Syria have spiked this year, with around 40 individuals detained in the first four months, compared to 25 arrests in the whole of 2013. While a handful of individuals have been charged, none of these cases have yet come to court.
Police forces have had some success appealing to parents who have suspicions about their children's activities. The arrest of two 17-year-old girls, one from West Yorkshire and the other London, at Heathrow in January, is understood to have followed a tipoff from a family member.
But the experience in Portsmouth – according to community leaders – is that in some cases mothers and fathers are the last people to find out what their children are up to.
Staff at the city's main Jami mosque say they are working closely with the police in an attempt to stop other young people from following in the footsteps of those who have already embarked for Syria.
They claim that the first inkling most of the parents had about their offsprings' plans came after they had gone.
Mosque member Suyeb Tanzam said: "Some of the parents found a letter on the door of their house from their child saying that they were going to Syria to fight against Assad.
"The parents came to us and we informed the police with them, but in many cases the police seemed to already know what had happened."
Mosque leaders believe some of those who have gone to Syria are motivated by the desire to do something to support the humanitarian effort, while others are driven to become fighters.
As well as the young men, at least two teenage girls are also understood to have travelled from Portsmouth to marry fighters linked to Islamist groups taking up arms against the Assad regime. One of the girls – aged 17 – has spoken in blog posts of how she gained permission from her father to travel to Syria to marry a fighter.
Leaflets printed by the city council, with the headline: "Syria … what's the real story?", which detail the dangers likely to be encountered by anyone who travels to the country either for humanitarian reasons or to fight, have been distributed outside the mosque.
President of the Jami mosque, Abdul Jalil said: "We would say it is not safe to go there. It is impossible for us to get a message to every one of the 1,000 people who come and pray here but we try our best to get a message out to young people who might be trying to go to Syria to help the people, to say to them: 'Don't risk your life. You can help in a different way.'
"We are working with the Red Cross to arrange for a representative from the local community to go with the humanitarian organisation to Syria to see how they are helping the people, and to bring that message back here. We hope that will help."
Mosque leaders say they have no problem if those who have gone to Syria are arrested on their return.
Mozib Khan, a member of the mosque committee, said: "What they are doing is misguided. People are asking what is going to happen when these people come back, and it is our view that it's better for them to be stopped by the police and be checked out when they come back. We need to let the police do their duty and let the law do its work. But we have said to the authorities make sure the community does not have something to react to, we have told them don't over do it."
One young man who will not be returning to his family home in Portsmouth is Ifthekar Jaman, a former public schoolboy who worked in customers services at Sky, and travelled to Syria last November. He was killed while taking part in an Isis assault on an arms depot in December.
Jaman was instrumental in encouraging other young men – his friends and peers – from the city to follow him. In social media posts he also urged women to come and marry fighters.
One of the young women who appears to have followed his call has posted regularly from Raqqah, a town in northern Syria which is the stronghold of Isis. The 17-year-old has talked about how her father had given permission for her to travel and marry a fighter, and warned other girls not to consider travelling out alone to find a husband, but to come with the approval of their father, or another guardian, and to travel with someone.
Before his death Jaman denied that he posed a threat to the UK. He told the BBC he rejected the claims of the police and security services that the war was creating a generation of violent jihadists, some of whom would come back and target the UK, and said he had no intention of returning home.
Despite his death, police attention seems to remain on Jaman. Two weeks ago his family home in the city was raided by anti-terrorist police who carried out two days of searches which they said were related to "issues overseas" rather than a threat to local communities or the UK.
Hampshire police – who are delivering the Home Office's Prevent programme, which attempts to intervene and stop other young people joining the fighting against Assad – have visited 3,500 students and 400 staff in schools and colleges across the county and are working in Portsmouth with the city council, local community leaders, school teachers and colleges.
DCI Peter Oliphant, the regional head of Prevent, said: "We are engaging with communities in order to prevent and discourage travel to Syria. Some may be risking their lives by travelling to Syria for humanitarian purposes, and others may be vulnerable to becoming involved in terrorist activity whilst there, even if that was not their original intention.
"I would encourage anyone who is concerned about a friend or family member who wishes to travel to Syria to contact police via their local neighbourhood policing team."
COPY http://www.theguardian.com/uk
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