UK universities and radical Islam
Yemeni officials say the Christmas Day ‘underwear bomber’ was recruited in the UK.
The attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest flight 253 brought global attention to the UK university system. The fear is that Muslims studying in the UK are becoming ‘radicalised’.
The alleged bomber, a Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, studied for three years at University College London (UCL) and was the president of the university’s Islamic society.
The al-Qaeda group who planned the attempt recruited Abdulmutallab in London, according to Yemeni authorities.
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The revelation has brought intense scrutiny to the society and the UCL administration, but they say that there were no signs that he had been radicalised while he was in the UK.
In this edition of the Riz Khan show we speak with Professor Anthony Glees who claims that dozens of Britain’s universities have become bases for known terrorists.
We also speak to Faisal Hanjra, the president of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, and Azeem Ibrahim of the Solas Foundation who argue that there is no evidence that Britain’s schools are radicalising young Muslims.
This episode of the Riz Khan show aired from Wednesday, January 27, 2010.