ABOUT 70% of Muslim prison chaplains espouse a hardline interpretation of Islam that runs contrary to British values and human rights, an independent review has discovered.
The study by Ian Acheson, a former Home Office official, which is expected to be published next month, found about 140 of the 200 Muslim chaplains working in the country’s prisons were imams who had studied Deobandi Islam, which developed in India in the 19th century as a reaction against British colonialism, forbids music and promotes gender segregation.
A senior Whitehall official said: “It is of great concern that the majority of Muslim chaplains in prisons propagate a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic scripture which is contrary to British values and human rights. Such imams are unlikely to aid the deradicalisation of Islamists in in prisons and could potentially even make them more firm in their beliefs. [The Sunday Times (£)] Read more
