Some of Britain’s most dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders are promoting jihad from inside high-security prisons by smuggling out propaganda for the internet and finding recruits. In an authoritative report, Quilliam, a think tank funded by the Home Office, claims “mismanagement” by the Prison Service is helping Al-Qaeda gain recruits and risks “strengthening jihadist movements”.

Sunday Times, 15 November 2005

Although the study is not yet available online, the reliability of Quilliam’s allegations may perhaps be judged by the shock-horror revelation in their press release that “Faraj Hassan Al-Saad, a Libyan detainee then fighting extradition to Italy on terrorism charges, used prison call boxes to appear live on the Islam Channel” which is “run by Mohammed Ali Harrath, a convicted Tunisian terrorist who is the subject of an Interpol ‘Red Notice’.”

Quilliam recommends “establishing specialised a de-radicalisation centre [sic] to house imprisoned extremists, in order to tackle prison radicalisation”. Now, who do you suppose might be looking to get the contract to run that de-radicalisation programme?

Still, it’s good to know that Quilliam are spending taxpayers’ money on something other than hiring libel lawyers to threaten their critics.