European Jihad: Future of the Past? From Criminals to Terrorists and Back? in Videos
We are happy to bring you 3 videos from our Brussels event. Please see details in every section.
Radicalisation - Threat in Prisons
Not every single terrorist die in a terrorist attack and not every criminal successfully avoids imprisonment. Quite some of them end up indeed in jail and a remarkable amount of them leave prison radicalised. In fact, however, very little is known as to what actually happens behind the prison walls. How big/serious the threat actually is? How the radicalisation process is conducted and how can we minimalize/prevent the risk? Is there a single prototype of a personality of a certain individual making him/her more prone towards the radicalisation behind the bars? Can we confirm that the individuals are getting radicalised solely with a help of an imprisoned renowned jihadist recruiter towards which we should then draw special attention? Is it feasible to identify and consequently contain each and every such radical to a separate cell? How can we avoid the radicalisation which is being “imported from the outside” – either via phone calls or through visits in prison? What about those imprisoned individuals who will be released in the upcoming years?
BART SCHUURMAN, Researcher, Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), Leiden University, Leiden
ELENI FOTOU, Forensic Psychologist, Kavala
VIKTOR SZUCS, Junior Research Fellow, GLOBSEC
Led by: THOMAS RENARD, Senior Research Fellow, EGMONT, Brussels
Mapping out the Radical Mosques in Europe
GLOBSEC’s research into pathways to jihad identified some of the European mosques as still, 18 years after the 9/11’s Hamburg cell, a viable route into the jihadi milieu. Little is known, however, how does that process work in practice or what is its methodology, i.e. who exactly animates this pathway for impressionable individuals, and how is that happening? How much do the elders or founders know, and what pressures do they come under? And finally, what is the best way of countering this threat and can it at all be achieved within the European framework?
MOHAMED ABDELFADEEL ABDELRAHEEM, Assistant Professor, Al-Azhar University; Member of the Inter-Religious Dialogue Center, Cairo
MUSTAFA Y. ALI, Director, Arigatou International; Founding Member of Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities, Nairobi
OLIVIER GUITTA, Managing Director, GlobalStrat, London
Led by: RODERICK PARKES, Senior Analyst, EU Institute for Security Studies, Brussels
Overblown, Underappreciated or Just About Right?
The most well-known ISIS terrorist atrocities in Europe, including the 2015 Paris and 2016 Brussels attacks, saw individuals who in the past had been involved in organized crime and illegal trade graduate into the ranks of the world’s most successful terrorist organisation. It is now widely assumed that Europe’s terrorists are no longer radicals first and foremost but criminals who turned to political violence at some stage throughout their ordinary crime careers. Thus, a threat emanating from the “crime-terror nexus” hangs over Europe. But does it? GLOBSEC and its European collaborators spent two years investigating the issue and have some answers on the issue.
JOHN MORRISON, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London
GIOVANNI GIACALONE, ITSTIME, Milan
WIM HARDYNS, Professor, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, Ghent University, Ghent
THOM SNAPHAAN, Academic Assistant and PhD Researcher, Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy, Ghent University, Ghent
OLIVIER DE FRANCE, Research Director, The French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS), Paris
Led by: KACPER REKAWEK, Head of National Security Programme, GLOBSEC, Bratislava