Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: NDTV.com
Date: December 13, 2010
URL: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/british-universities-breeding-terrorists-72161
British universities have become hotbeds
for breeding radicals and recruiting grounds for terror network like Al-Qaida,
an academician has claimed.
Professor Anthony Glees, Director of security
studies at Buckingham University, has said the varsities are failing to properly
monitor students who could become terrorists, the 'Sunday Express' reported.
"Campuses are seen as safe spaces for
radicalisers. There is long history of students and recent graduates who turn
to terror," he was quoted as saying.
Professor Glees said MI5 had identified 39
campuses as "vulnerable to violent extremism". Birmingham City and
East London are the only ones to be named so far.
All universities were told they may seek 10,000
pounds grant to help counter the threat but 14 have not bothered to apply.
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, a unit of MI5, is concerned by the response
of some academics to the warnings.
Last month, 12-year-old Roshonara Choudhry,
a former student at King's College, London, was jailed for life for attempting
to kill former Labour minister Stephen Timms in May over his support for the
Iraq invasion.
Former King's College students Asif Hanif
and Omar Khan Sharif carried out a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv in 2003.
