Now, why might it be that a counterterror program disproportionately targeted Muslims? Even the UK’s counterterror top dog Neil Basu, while trying to portray the “right-wing” threat as significant, had to admit that such case made up only ten percent of counterterror investigations; the rest were Islamic jihadists. The counterterror database disproportionately targeted Muslims because Muslims disproportionately targeted non-Muslims in terror plots. But watch for the authorities in shattered, staggering, dhimmi Britain to dismantle their counterterror program, which is already largely toothless anyway, in the face of this criticism.
“Counter-terror police running secret Prevent database,” by Jamie Grierson, Guardian, October 6, 2019 (thanks to Paul):
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.
Each Prevent referral received is added to the PCM database by individual police forces, including personal details and reasons for the referral, but the person is not notified, responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted by Liberty showed. Other agencies are able to request information held on the database.
The revelations about the existence of the database come at a time when Prevent is facing renewed scrutiny as an independent review begins, sparked by years of accusations that the programme had become a toxic brand that disproportionately targeted Muslims….
Gracie Bradley, Liberty policy and campaigns manager, said: “This secret database isn’t about keeping us safe. It’s about keeping tabs on and controlling people – particularly minority communities and political activists.
“It is utterly chilling that potentially thousands of people, including children, are on a secret government database because of what they’re perceived to think or believe.”…
Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “That a database is being compiled by police forces detailing every Prevent referral is deeply worrying. That it is secret is even more concerning.
“This database – over and above being a hugely authoritarian tool – will mean that the vast majority of those referred, who are found to have no terrorism link, will still be perceived as potential risks by the state, and this will disproportionately affect Muslims….