Review of counter-extremism scheme boycotted over chair’s ‘Islamophobic’ comments
Human rights organisations have boycotted a review of the government’s flagship counter-extremism scheme after its leader was accused of Islamophobia.
Charities including Amnesty International and Liberty said the appointment of Wiliam Shawcross, former chair of the Charity Commission, as the independent reviewer of Prevent had undermined its credibility.
A joint statement accused Mr Shawcross of expressing “patently Islamophobic views” in the past, including saying: “Europe and Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future.”
The 17 groups, which also include Big Brother Watch, Rights and Security International and The Runnymede Trust, said they would be launching their own “parallel review”.
“It is apparent that the government intends to use this review to whitewash the strategy and give it a clean bill of health, without interrogating, in good faith, its impacts on human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the statement added.
“Without these perspectives, it is impossible to impartially assess the Prevent policy.”
Ministers announced an independent review of Prevent two years ago, but it has been beset by controversy and delays.
Please enter your email address Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP Thanks for signing up to the News newsletter {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the News newsletter {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice
The first reviewer appointed, Lord Carlile, stepped down in December 2019 amid legal action over alleged bias and the review’s terms of reference.
When Mr Shawcross was appointed as his replacement in January, critics raised concern about some of his previous remarks and allegations of bias against Muslim groups during his tenure at the Charity Commission.
Human rights organisations pointed to an appearance at the 2012 World Affairs Council, in Texas, where during a conversation about terror plots, Mr Shawcross said: “Europe and Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future, I think.
“All European countries have vastly, very quickly growing Islamic populations and frighteningly large numbers of the young men in these, both in Britain and in Germany and in France, are turning to radical Islamism.”
Mr Shawcross was reported by the Telegraph to be a “frontrunner” for the role of Prevent reviewer a week before some other candidates were interviewed in November.
Lord Carlile stepped down as Prevent reviewer in December 2019 and his replacement was not appointed for over a year (PA)
Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor who was among the other candidates, said the article’s timing did not “suggest a fair fight”.
The group of charities said the choice of reviewer suggested that the government “has no interest in conducting an objective and impartial review of the strategy, nor in engaging meaningfully with communities affected by it”.
“Mr Shawcross’s appointment, given his well-known record and previous statements on Islam, and following the debacle of the Lord Carlile appointment, brings into question the good faith of the government in establishing the review and fundamentally undermines its credibility,” they added.
The statement said the parallel review would look at alleged discrimination and human rights violations under the Prevent strategy, which aims to stop people being drawn into terrorism.
Some campaign groups have long accused Prevent of targeting Muslims and setting the barrier for intervention too low, although police say statistics prove that all demographics and ideologies are considered.
David Cameron introduced legal requirements for institutions including schools, the NHS and councils to report suspected extremists to Prevent four years ago, sparking fresh accusations of state-sanctioned spying.
The government later refused calls for change from the Home Affairs Committee, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Joint Committee on Human Rights, MPs and charities.
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 22 February 2021 Crocuses bloom outside Trinity College in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 February 2021 Parts of Callander in Stirlingshire flooded after the River Teith burst its banks PA UK news in pictures 19 February 2021 The sun rises over St Mary’s Lighthouse, Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 18 February 2021 Cars drive along the A1101 in Welney, Norfolk, which is passable again after two months submerged by floodwater PA UK news in pictures 17 February 2021 Professor Green announces Tideway’s new 25km Super Sewer is ‘Heading East’, marking a major stage in the construction of the tunnel, as two giant Tunnel Boring Machines link up to break through into Bermondsey and commence tunnelling towards East London. Once completed, the sewer system will prevent millions of tonnes of raw sewage entering the Thames PA UK news in pictures 16 February 2021 man holds up signs reading “I LOST MY JOB!!” and “BORIS, WHO IS GOING TO PAY THIS BILL? I DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY TO PAY MY CREDIT CARD” at the window of his hotel room at the Radisson Blu hotel in London Getty UK news in pictures 15 February 2021 Passengers arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 are escorted by security personal to buses. From today, people arriving from 33 “red list” countries, including South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, must isolate in hotels rooms for 10 days at their own expense. The policy was announced late last month in response to the emergence of new variants of the novel coronavirus that are more resistant to existing vaccines. Getty UK news in pictures 14 February 2021 People play ice hockey on frozen flooded fields near Ely in Cambridgeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 February 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wearing a face mask, accompanied by Sarah Rose (left), MD of the Northumbria healthcare PPE manufacturing hub in Seaton Delaval PA UK news in pictures 12 February 2021 Lanterns hang across the street to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year which marks the Year of the Ox, in Chinatown, central London, during England’s third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. PA UK news in pictures 11 February 2021 European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic at London’s St Pancras Station after arriving in the UK ahead of talks with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove on the Northern Ireland protocol. PA UK news in pictures 10 February 2021 A frozen road sign and hedgerow are covered in icicles, as Storm Darcy affects large parts of the country, in Shenley, Hertfordshire Reuters UK news in pictures 9 Februrary 2021 People walk up Gardner street in Glasgow as snow blankets the city AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 8 February 2021 Drifting snow covers a car in Harwood, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 7 February 2021 People walk through the snow in Knole Park in Sevenoaks Getty UK news in pictures 6 February 2021 A boy sledges at Moulin Moor near Pitlochry, as storm Darcy approaches, in Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 5 February 2021 Research centre assistant Layla Hillsden with a rare copy of the 1647 Beaumont and Fletcher folio, an anthology of plays by John Fletcher and William Beaumont, from the personal library of King Charles II that has recently been acquired by Special Collections at the University of Leeds PA UK news in pictures 4 February 2021 Al Goodridge, from Newtonmore, uses an axe to create a channel in the ice for his wife Alice to swim in in Loch Insh, in the Cairngorms National Park PA UK news in pictures 3 February 2021 A mural of Captain Sir Tom Moore, by artist Robert Newbiggin, adorns a wall in Southport. The WWII veteran raised nearly £33 million for NHS charities ahead of his 100th birthday last year by walking laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire. He was admitted to Bedford Hospital this weekend after testing positive for Covid-19 and died yesterday with his family present Getty UK news in pictures 2 February 2021 Police officers remove an environmental activist protesting against the HS2 high speed rail line, from the roof of the HS2 office in central London on February 2, 2021. – Designed to run to the former industrial powerhouse Birmingham and then Manchester and Leeds, HS2 was supposed to follow on from London’s southern Eurostar connection with Paris AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 1 February 2021 Christine Barry lifts her son Oran, two, up to kiss a statue of St Brigid as they visit St Brigid’s holy well in Co Kildare to mark St Brigid’s Day which is seen by many in Ireland as the first day of Spring PA UK news in pictures 31 January 2021 People walk a dog in Pugneys Country Park in Wakefield, West Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 30 January 2021 Firefighters inspect the charred remains of a block at Napier Barracks after police have said a fire was started deliberately in Folkestone, England. Napier Barracks, part of the disused Somerset House Sir John Moore Army Barracks, has been used since last summer to house Asylum Seekers arriving from France to the South Coast. It has been reported that 120 of the 400 people being housed there have caught Coronavirus and a visiting doctor had described the living conditions as “inhumane” Getty UK news in pictures 29 January 2021 Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community take part in Friday prayers at the Baitus Subhan Mosque in Croydon, England. For nearly the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic, and its resulting limits on public gatherings, have forced religious communities to find new ways to observe prayers, with many events being marked at home. Mosques as well as other places of religious worship remain open, though numbers have been limited to help maintain social distancing Getty UK news in pictures 28 January 2021 Artwork depicting animals, created by Raymond and Leonard is displayed in the window of a house in Acton, London, to launch The Great Big Art Exhibition, the nation’s largest ever exhibition, an initiative by Firstsite PA UK news in pictures 27 January 2021 Fishing boats, some abandoned, lie in the waters of the River Wyre at Fleetwood in Lancashire PA UK news in pictures 26 January 2021 A group of friends use a sheet to sledge in the snow-covered Lickey Hills Country Park, Birmingham PA UK news in pictures 25 January 2021 A cyclist watches the sun rise from Primrose Hill PA UK news in pictures 24 Janaury 2021 People go sledging in the snow on Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath Getty UK news in pictures 23 January 2021 Denise Munday (left) and Ruth Richards (right) check on Ruth’s rescued ex-battery hens, in flood water at her home near Naburn Lock in York following heavy rain during Storm Christoph PA UK news in pictures 22 January 2021 The clean up as floodwater begins to recede from the town of Northwich, Cheshire, in the aftermath of Storm Christoph Getty UK news in pictures 21 January 2021 Members of the Emergency services work to evacuate Care Home residents after they became stranded by flood water, in Northwich, northwest England as Storm Christoph brings heavy rains and flooding across England AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 20 January 2021 Flooding underneath the A46 at Six Hills Lane in Leicestershire, as Storm Christoph is set to bring widespread flooding, gales and snow to parts of the UK PA UK news in pictures 19 January 2021 A surfer rides a wave in the sea off of Boscombe beach in Dorset PA UK news in pictures 18 January 2021 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stands outside a room where technicians are manufacturing the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine at Oxford Biomedica, in Oxford Reuters UK news in pictures 17 January 2021 People on the sea front in Brighton during England’s third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus PA UK news in pictures 16 January 2021 Cubicles erected inside Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, for people to receive an injection of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine PA UK news in pictures 15 January 2021 Vehicles negotiate a flooded road in Mountsorrel, Leciestershire, with a large swathe of England covered by 30 flood warnings by lunchtime Friday PA UK news in pictures 14 January 2021 NHS workers from hospitals across the capital during a socially distanced protest outside Downing Street, London, timed to coincide with the weekly clap for heroes PA UK news in pictures 13 January 2021 A public health notice to ‘stay home’ at a bus stop in London EPA UK news in pictures 12 January 2021 The sun rises behind Scarborough Castle in Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 11 January 2021 A healthcare workers fills a syringe with a Covid-19 vaccine at the NHS vaccine centre that has been set up at the Centre for Life in Times Square, Newcastle PA UK news in pictures 10 January 2021 Grey seals on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, where Friends of Horsey Seals, who monitor the coast from Winterton to Horsey, have recorded over 2000 births this season PA UK news in pictures 9 January 2021 An open water swimmer holds up a sheet of ice as she enjoys a socially-distanced dawn swim after breaking the ice on the surface of a lake near Scunthorpe, northern England AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 8 January 2021 Sledgers have fun in the snow surrounding the Angel of the North near Gateshead, Tyne and Wear PA UK news in pictures 7 January 2021 A dog wearing a jacket running in Queen’s Park in Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 January 2021 A pedestrian crosses a deserted road in Leeds AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 5 January 2021 Pigeons gather outside the shuttered entrance to a John Lewis department store, closed down due to pandemic restrictions, on an empty Oxford Street in London as Britain enters another national lockdown AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 4 January 2021 Supporters of Julian Assange celebrate after the verdict outside the Old Bailey in London. District judge Vanessa Baraitser denied the extradition of Assange to the United States. He faces charges for hacking computers and violating the country’s Espionage Act. The US has confirmed it will appeal the decision Getty UK news in pictures 3 January 2021 Allenheads in Northumberland, after heavy snowfall overnight PA
Participation in both the Prevent and Channel programmes is voluntary, and some officials have questioned whether the process should be obligatory after several people referred went on to attempt terror attacks.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “There was a full and open recruitment process to find the new Independent Reviewer of Prevent.
“A panel, led by an independent chair, assessed the candidates and found that Mr Shawcross met the criteria and possessed the right range of skills and experience to conduct this important review.
“It is false and disingenuous to say that Prevent disproportionately targets Muslims. It plays an essential role in stopping vulnerable people being drawn into all forms of terrorism, with safeguarding at its heart. It is important that this review is conducted so this vital programme continues to improve.”
Out of 6,287 referrals to Prevent in the year to March 2020, more than half were for individuals with a mixed, unstable or unclear ideology.
Around a quarter of referrals were due to concerns over Islamist radicalisation and 22 per cent related to right-wing radicalisation.
The largest age group was children and young people aged 20 and under, including 1,559 children under the age of 15.
Of those referred to Prevent, 27 per cent “required no further action” and half were passed on to other services, such as education, housing and mental health, for alternative support.
