In a “scathing” court judgment to be published shortly, Mrs Smith’s legal claim against her son’s school and the Government has been dismissed as baseless and she has been ordered to pay £1,000 for wasting court time.
In November, the BBC reported that the east London council of Waltham Forest had mistakenly released the first names of some primary school pupils thought at risk of radicalisation.
The release came as the result of a parent’s Freedom of Information Act request for correspondence about Prevent. The parent concerned, Haras Ahmed, described Prevent as “a disaster from start to finish”, and said he was “appalled [that] children’s data, such sensitive data, are released.”
However, a council spokesman said that the names had been blocked out in the release sent to Mr Ahmed but that the information sent had been “manipulated by a third party to reveal the blocked-out names.”
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In the coverage, Mr Ahmed presented himself as merely an ordinary parent. However, he is also an activist in Prevent Watch. An online search would have revealed that he was listed to speak at a meeting with the group only four days after the story aired.
Prevent Watch heavily promoted a BBC story about a Muslim boy in Accrington, Lancashire, whose family was supposedly visited by police under Prevent after he wrote at school that he lived in a “terrorist house,” a misspelling of terraced house.
Police said the visit had nothing to do with Prevent, terrorism, or the spelling mistake and was, in fact, carried out because the child also alleged that he was the victim of a violent assault. Clive Grunshaw, the Lancashire police and crime commissioner, has complained to the BBC about the story.
The corporation and other media outlets have issued corrections but Prevent Watch continues to promote the false story on its website and Twitter feed. “Extremists and terrorist sympathisers are using the media to make it harder for the authorities to fight terrorism,” said Hannah Stuart, research fellow at the counter-extremism think tank the Henry Jackson Society.
“Journalists need to check basic facts and ask simple questions about the identity and motivations of the people making these claims, otherwise Prevent Watch and Cage will be allowed to continue frightening and alienating Muslims with their campaign of lies.”
Prevent Watch’s website includes other cases which have nothing to do with Prevent. They include an account of how a female student, “HH,” felt offended when a lecturer made a joke about her joining Isil, and how a schoolgirl, “SA,” felt offended when her teacher posed questions to the class about democracy and British institutions. It also claims as “victimisation” a number of cases where a Prevent referral was clearly warranted, including that of a law student, “DF,” who was later convicted of terrorism offences.
Prevent Watch is linked to Cage, which notoriously defended “Jihadi John”, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killer, and is described as an “apologist for terrorism” by Boris Johnson. Prevent Watch has links to Mend, an extremist front group which wants to let Muslims fight in Syria.
At a rally in Waltham Forest later this week, Mrs Smith and Mr Ahmed will share a platform with Jahangir Mohammed, a Cage activist, regular speaker at its events and co-author of at least three reports for Cage, one of which described Prevent as a “cradle-to-grave police state.”
Mr Mohammed wrote an article in the Socialist Worker for Cage, blaming the security services for the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby and saying that “if anyone radicalised [the killer Michael Adebolajo], it was them.” There is no suggestion that Mrs Smith or Mr Ahmed are supporters of terrorism.
Another speaker at Wednesday’s rally will be Weyman Bennett, a hard-Left activist who has falsely claimed that Prevent criminalises any opponent of the Government, stating that “if you question Cameron, you are a non-violent extremist.” Alex Kenny, an senior member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), will also speak.
As The Telegraph revealed last week, Mr Kenny and other NUT leaders and activists in east London are working with Cage and Mend to undermine Prevent, even though teachers have a legal duty to safeguard pupils from extremism. Rob Ferguson, an NUT activist, orchestrated a statement which falsely claimed that Prevent has caused attempts to ban school prayers and targeted young people “for the views they hold on issues such as government foreign policy.” The NUT has refused to take action against him.
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the NUT, said: “It is quite correct to raise any legitimate concerns about the Prevent strategy that could result in unintended negative consequences. To inoculate children against radicalisation, teachers need to encourage free-flowing debate inside schools, but one concern is that children will be reported over things they say which are not of an extremist nature.”
Prevent Watch’s website and Twitter feed quote many false and inflammatory statements about Prevent, including a claim that “a child simply praying has now become an act that requires state surveillance and intervention.” The group describes as “excellent” a guide by the National Union of Students which claims that even feeling “anxious or reserved in class,” having “a desire for political or moral change,” or “questioning western media reporting” makes students “liable to court-sanctioned accusations of radicalisation”.
None of these are grounds for intervention and few real Prevent interventions are directly police led. As with the child in the “eco-terrorist” incident, most incidents are resolved quickly and informally at school level. Others may involve a referral to Channel, a mentoring programme run by Muslim civilians in which participation is voluntary.
Prevent Watch claims that Prevent “singles out” Muslims because it is “racist”. Almost all terrorist plots and attacks in Great Britain over the last ten years have involved Muslims, and all those who have joined Isil are Muslim. However, only 56 per cent of those referred for Channel interventions are Muslim.
Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/579309/s/4d3f587b/sc/13/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cuknews0Cterrorism0Ein0Ethe0Euk0C121320A540COrganised0Ecampaign0Eto0Ehobble0Eanti0Eterror0Efight0Bhtml/story01.htm