
Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats: Five things we learned about Prevent
The Waltham Forest Liberal Democrats recently held an event examining the Prevent duty, where experts from Prevent Watch taught us these 5 things.
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Prevent Cases
NHS Administrator
Date: January 2015 Gender: Male Location: Central London ZX (NHS Administrator) was put in touch with Prevent Watch as he was concerned about PREVENT training he received whilst working as an Administrator at the NHS. ZX is a British national, 28 years of age and currently working as an Administrator for the NHS. ZX has been working there for the past two years and thoroughly enjoys the work. However, whilst receiving adult-vulnerability training on safeguarding, ZX said he was trained on a section directly on Prevent and signs of radicalisation. He had concerns about this, and wanted to know whether this was lawful or unlawful in relation to implementation of the policy. ZX made clear that it was a small section, but found it absurd that radicalisation would be trained for all NHS staff. ZX explained that “out of nowhere, we were all trained on a small section of PREVENT”. This included referring patients
The Community Organisation
Date: November 2014 Location: Greater London IE is a grassroots community organisation which seeks social and spiritual renewal. Through the Islamic ethos enshrined within the organisation, members of IE are obliged to be full and active participants in society in order to benefit their local community. The organisation has affiliates throughout the United Kingdom. IE has been negatively impacted through the application of the PREVENT duty by the local authority. This has caused number problems for IE when they have organised events. A number of their events have been cancelled or revised because of the pressure applied by PREVENT officers to venue operators. During an event at a university in Greater London, IE were due to host a number of speakers. The university cancelled the event on the grounds that they were “Islamists” after pressure from the local authority. However, IE were not provided any reasonable reasons as to why

The Cucumber Case
cucumber, prevent Date: January 2016 Gender: Male Location: South East AQ is 4 years old and attends a nursery part time. As part of the class work AQ had drawn a number of pictures which were of concern to the teachers. Two of the pictures were not discernible and amounted to nothing more than shapes scribbles. These pictures were drawn in Autumn 2015. Another picture was a stick man holding a large knife alongside a scribble which was drawn in early 2016. When asked about this picture, the child said it was his father cutting a “cucumber”, which the child had mispronounced as “cooker bum.” However, the nursery staff wrongly asserted that he said “cooker bomb.” At no point did AQ use the word “bomb”, and it was the nursery staff who introduced this word to the conversation. As a result of this picture the nursery manager started the process
Teacher Suspended for Sharing an Article
Date: December 2014 Gender: Male Location: West Midlands JI is a teacher at a school in the West Midlands region. He advocated a number of political and religious ideas while in a private setting. He was subsequently suspended from his position as a teacher based on these views. There are two views which were highlighted by the school which they thought warranted suspension. Firstly, JI had posted an article by a reputable journalist on what would constitute an act of terrorism. The second view concerned whether a petition to proscribe the English Defence League should be circulated The school and the Department of Education alleged that JI had support views which are anti-Western and anti-American and had also undermined fundamental British values. JI was subsequently reinstated once an investigation had been conducted by the school There are a variety of concerns regarding the application of PREVENT in JI’s case. Firstly,
The British Values Discussion
Date: November 2015 Gender: Female Location: Greater London SA was in her form class in which a discussion was initiated concerning the notion of “British Values”. Her form tutor posed a number of questions to the class on issues such as democracy, governance, the law in the United Kingdom and Parliament. He wanted the class to evaluate whether such political structures were positive or negative. He then asked SA and her fellow students to fill out the associated questionnaire. SA wanted to know why they were being asked such questions, as this was form time and not in the context of a politics class. Her form tutor replied that they are discussing a number of different types of laws such as Hindu and Christian law. He then refereed to Shariah law in a derogatory manner, calling it “brutal.” He referred to Islam’s penal code and marriage laws. PREVENT Watch has
The Social Sciences Student
Date: April 2015 Gender: Female Location: Greater London HH was a social sciences student based in London. HH was studying in the library, writing an essay on radicalisation. A lecturer at the university saw HH with two books on the topic of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which HH had been reading in the course of writing her essay. The two books in question are two of the foremost pieces of work in the area of study and it would be necessary for any student to use the book when writing an essay on radicalisation in which ISIS was discussed. The lecturer’s reaction at HH carrying the books was to remark “Oh! Don’t go joining ISIS will you?” HH’s reaction was one of shock, and this was abundantly evident to the lecturer. The lecturer said that she was “joking”. Later on in the day, a friend of HH’s
The Prevent Duty



The Prevent Duty is championed by the government as an effective strategy to prevent terrorism, however, evidence suggests this is having an adverse effect on communities. Thousands of Prevent referrals are made each year but very few of them lead to any intervention.
Prevent Watch has supported hundreds of people impacted by Prevent. Our case studies show a huge failing of the Prevent Duty. We provide a free helpline with dedicated case workers to support people impacted by the Prevent Duty. We provide access to lawyers, media, research and much more.
What we’re working on

Report: A Response to the Shawcross Report

Report: The People’s Review of Prevent
On 12 February 2019, the government committed to carrying out an independent review of Prevent. We explain why the Government’s review of Prevent resulted in a boycott across civic society and the resultant alternative, the People’s Review of Prevent.

The Trojan Horse Affair
The Trojan Horse Affair ensured the Prevent was embedded in legislation under the guise of safeguarding. We analyse the events that unfolded in 2014 to reveal how they impact Prevent as we know it today.
Information and Support

Newsletter
Know your rights when dealing with Prevent officers. We provide the latest here.

Ways to Support
Your commitment has been vital to assisting hundreds of families across the UK who have been impacted by Prevent.
Prevent Watch appreciates every supporter and donor who helps to keep our helpline and supporting services running. Although we have helped hundreds of individuals we know that thousands of individuals are referred to Prevent each year and we rely on your help to be able to reach every person who needs our support.
We are incredibly grateful for your ongoing support.
Dr Layla Aitlhadj
Director, Prevent Watch