Ministers and the police must do the right thing and tell people if they are on this database, what information is stored and how this is or will be used. The human rights group, Liberty, has just revealed that the Government is operating a secret database of every referral ever made to the anti-radicalisation programme, Prevent. We uncovered this database through freedom of information requests – and what we found is disturbing for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was built by the police and contains information that is stored and shared without people’s knowledge or consent, which disproves the Government’s recent claim that Prevent is a safeguarding policy. Many of those on the database haven’t actually done anything wrong – they are reported to Prevent because of what they’re perceived to think or believe. In fact, less than one out of 10 referrals to Prevent have resulted in deradicalisation

Human rights charity warns of consequences for schools after FOIs reveal national police database of Prevent referrals A human rights charity has warned of a potential breakdown in trust between teachers and pupils after details emerged of a “secret” police database containing information gathered by school staff. Freedom of information requests by Liberty revealed the existence of the National Police Prevent Case Management database, which it claims is used to collate “sensitive personal information” submitted under the Prevent duty, the government’s anti-extremism programme. Source: Liberty: Secret Prevent database destroys teacher-pupil trust

Fears that the government’s anti-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, is used as a “trawling exercise” will be reinforced by revelations that police forces have been storing personal details of all those referred to the scheme in a database without the knowledge or consent of the individuals involved, the shadow security minister has said.The National Police Prevent Case Management (PCM) database is managed centrally by national counter-terrorism policing headquarters and is compiled by all police forces across the England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to documents sent to the human rights group Liberty and seen by the Guardian.The directory includes personal details of the individuals referred to Prevent and the reasons for the referral, and both are added without notifying the person involved. Source: Database ‘reinforces worst fears’ about Prevent, says Labour | UK news | The Guardian

Counter-terror police across the UK have been running a secret database containing details of thousands of individuals referred to the government’s controversial anti-radicalisation Prevent programme, the Guardian can reveal.The National Police Prevent Case Management (PCM) database is managed centrally by national counter-terrorism policing headquarters. It is accessible to all police forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the Home Office are able to request data from it, according to documents sent to the human rights group Liberty and seen by the Guardian.The stated aim of Prevent, a voluntary programme, is to divert people from terrorism before they offend and crucially deals with individuals who have yet to cross the criminality threshold. Source: Counter-terror police running secret Prevent database | UK news | The Guardian

How does UK’s controversial anti-radicalisation programme work and why is it criticised The unveiling of a secret database holding all referrals to Prevent has sparked a fresh debate over the controversial anti-radicalisation programme. What is Prevent? Prevent is one of the four “Ps” of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, along with Pursue, Protect and Prepare. Prevent was created by the Labour government in 2003 and its remit was widened by the coalition government in 2011. Its stated purpose is to safeguard and support those vulnerable to radicalisation and to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Source: Prevent strategy: your questions answered

I talk to Dr Asim Qureishi, Director of the pressure group CAGE, on the securitisation of the Muslim community and the making of an ‘enemy… Asim Qureshi is an unlikely activist. He studied law before deciding he would serve the Muslim community by shining a light upon the policies and motivations that have accompanied the post 9/11 security state. The Daily Mail in its usual shrill mode called him a ‘middle-class’ leader of the resistance. Asim speaks with knowledge, precision and eloquence as he explains how the Muslim community is viewed by the state as a ‘suspect community’. In Qureshi’s mind, the agenda that began with Blair has only intensified with the Conservatives, with government steadily increasing their powers and pursuing misguided anti-terror policies that label all Muslims and make them the subject of suspicion. Source: A ‘Suspect Community’ — Britain’s Muslims and the spectre of fear

Tahirah Amatullah of CAGE argues that politicians have rendered the term “extremist” completely redundant. When politicians began calling one another “extremists” – that career-destroying word previously used to sort the “good Muslims” from the “bad Muslims” – it caused a fair degree of amusement at the CAGE office.Here was proof of the argument we have been consistently raising ever since the inception of Prevent in 2004, and with plenty of case studies to prove it: Any state concerned with basic principles of justice cannot centre an entire security apparatus (legislation included) on a term whose meanings and interpretations, according to “counter-extremism” policy, are so fluid and malleable (whatever happened to that definition of “extremism” anyway?), that the concept can be used to silence any opponent whose views are deemed to be disagreeable. Source: “Extremism” now officially has no meaning at all – 5Pillars

During the Conservative leadership election, all candidates committed to holding a specific inquiry into Islamophobia. This was welcomed across the board. I too was hopeful. But on Tuesday, Boris Source: The Tories are about to launch an empty investigation into Islamophobia – don’t fall for their meaningless promises | The Independent

President says event focused on Islamophobia definition rather than bigotry faced by Muslims The leader of the National Union of Students has pulled out of engagements at the Conservative party conference in protest at what she said was “deeply disturbing, downright Islamophobia” at a fringe event on Sunday. The NUS president, Zamzam Ibrahim, had been due to speak at two sessions at the conference, in Manchester, this week but withdrew, claiming she could not participate in a conference that “denies the bigotry faced by Muslims on a daily basis”. Source: NUS head pulls out of Tory conference over ‘disturbing Islamophobia’ | News | The Guardian

Serb and Croat politicians are increasingly using Islamophobic rhetoric with aim of dividing Bosnia, says new report. Islamophobic rhetoric at the political level, which at its peak in the 1990s Bosnian War played a significant role in the massacre of thousands of Bosniaks, is once again being used by Bosnian Serb, Serbian, Bosnian Croat and Croatian politicians with dangerous aims, according to a new report. Prior to and during the 1992 -1995 conflict, divisive and dehumanising language was used with the hope of splitting the country into “Greater Croatia” and “Greater Serbia”. Source: ‘Large increase in anti-Bosnian, anti-Muslim bigotry’: Report | Bosnia | Al Jazeera