Author: Caroline Gammell
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: September 20, 2008
URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2988926/Britains-youngest-teenage-terrorist-a-wake-up-call-for-parents.html
A senior Muslim MP has warned parents they
need to do more to protect their children against Islamic extremism.
Speaking after the sentencing of Britain's
youngest terrorist, Shahid Malik, the minister for International Development,
said parents had to be vigilant against the threat of radicalisation.
He also called on mosques to do more to combat
fundamentalism.
The MP spoke out after the sentencing of Hammad
Munshi who was just 15 when he was recruited by a terror cell believed to
have been plotting against the Royal Family.
The teenager, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire,
had downloaded information about bomb-making material from the internet and
hidden notes about martyrdom under his bed.
The judge at the Old Bailey said the schoolboy's
head had been filled with "pernicious and warped ideas" which led
to his involvement in a plan to kill kuffars or non-believers.
Munshi's local MP Mr Malik said: "It
is a real wake-up call for parents because there is a real need to be vigilant,
especially when their kids are on the internet.
"It is a real wake-up call to how older
jihadists can prey on vulnerable young people.
"Mosques have done a lot but they need
to do more in terms of telling young people what is acceptable and what is
not in Islam."
Munshi, who is the grandson of a senior Islamic
sharia judge, was groomed by terrorist Aabid Hussain Khan, 23, who was jailed
last month alongside postman Sultan Muhammed, 23, both from Bradford.
He was arrested on his way home from a GCSE
chemistry exam in 2006 and found with two small bags of ball-bearings - a
key component of a suicide vest.
Anti-terrorist officers also discovered notes
about how to make napalm, detonators and grenades on his computer, which he
had forwarded on to Khan.
Now 18, he was found guilty last month of
compiling information likely to be useful in terrorism.
Sentencing him to two years in a young offenders'
institution, Judge Timothy Pontius said Khan and others had taken advantage
of Munshi's youth.
"It is regrettable and tragic that you
find yourself in court on such a serious charge," he said. "You
have brought very great shame upon yourself, your family and your religion.
"In the light of the evidence, I have
no doubt that you, amongst others of similar immaturity and vulnerability,
fell under the spell of fanatical extremists.
"They took advantage of your youthful
naivety in order to indoctrinate you with pernicious and warped ideas masquerading
as altruistic religious zeal.
"Were it not for Aabid Khan's malign
influence I doubt whether this offence would ever have been committed. Yet
there is no doubt that you knew what you were doing."
Harendra de Silva QC, defending, said the
schoolboy had been subjected to "grooming and manipulation" by others
who were "more criminally inclined".
He said Munshi's relatives were "devastated"
by what had happened "not least because of the shame that it has brought
upon this very upstanding family".
His grandfather is Yakub Munshi, president
of the Islamic Research Institute of Great Britain at the Markazi Mosque in
Dewsbury.
Mr Munshi said afterwards: "All of us
feel there are lessons to be learnt, not only for us but also for the whole
Muslim community in this country.
"This case demonstrates how a young impressionable
teenager can be groomed so easily through the internet to associate with those
whose views run contrary to true Muslim beliefs and values."
The trial heard how Munshi, a pupil at Westborough
High School in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, had a library of videos, documents
and audio clips showing acts of Jihad, Mujihadeen fighting and Al-Qaeda preachings.
He conversed regularly online with Khan, described
as the "Mr Fix-it" of the terrorist world, and they had discussions
about how to smuggle a sword past airport security.
Khan had links to several other cells, including
jailed terrorist, Mohammed Atif Siddique and alongside Muhammed, he assembled
a dossier on 15 members of the Royal Family.
Khan was jailed for 12 years and Muhammed
jailed for 10 years last month.
