Public money has been handed to groups promoting Islamist extremism in the process of implementing the government’s counter-radicalisation scheme Prevent, a review is believed to have found.
A leaked draft of the report, seen by The Telegraph, said key figures in organisations funded by Prevent are alleged to have supported the Taliban, defended militant Islamist groups banned in the UK and hosted hate preachers.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the US, Britain introduced Prevent providing funds to groups and charities to wean young Muslims away from extremism.
However, the review by William Shawcross found several of the organisations went on to promote extreme Islamist ideas.
A Downing Street spokesman said the review, commissioned by then home secretary Priti Patel in 2021, would be published “in due course”.
There were concerns that the review could be watered down for fear of provoking claims of Islamophobia and stirring community tensions, but government sources told The Telegraph that there were no “redactions”.
“During the course of the review, I became aware that some Prevent-funded groups promote extremism or have links with extremists,” Shawcross says.
“I found unacceptable examples of some of these organisations promoting Islamist extremist sentiments, or of validating and associating with Islamist extremists,” he says.
According to the newspaper, the review cites four examples from open-source research, including the leader of a Prevent-funded civil society organisation that made public statements “favourable and supportive” of the Taliban.
“Prevent lets the vast majority of Muslims in this country down when it gives legitimacy and influence to those which promote Islamist narratives,” the report states.
“It is correct for Prevent to be increasingly concerned about the growing threat from the extreme Right. But the facts clearly demonstrate that the most lethal threat in the last 20 years has come from Islamism, and this threat continues to endure,” it says.
