From a knowledgeable friend:
This is a new twist, but it is not surprising that convicts are converting to Islam. This has been reported from different places in the Western world.
When convicts become Christians this normally implies a process of becoming more gentle, of renouncing gang behaviour, intimidation and aspirations to violence. It is a sign of a positive reform.
However a convert to Islam in a prison can embrace violent jihadist aspirations as part of their new faith, and link themselves into a world-wide jihadi movement: adopting an ‘off-the-shelf’ violent ideology which rewards its adherents with a sense of superiority.
How will our society respond?
~~~
*NSW ‘cracks down on Islamic prison gang’*
April 22, 2007 – 7:29AM
Some of the most dangerous criminals in NSW have converted to Islam and formed a gang inside jail.
The gang’s members are all incarcerated in Goulburn Jail’s Super Max, which has the highest security rating in Australia.
The NSW government has launched a crackdown on the gang, which will now be monitored 24 hours a day because of security fears, Fairfax reports.
One in three inmates of the Super Max has reportedly converted to Islam, and pictures of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden have been confiscated.
The gang members, with shaven heads and long beards, are known as the Super Max Jihadists and are led by convicted murderer Bassam Hamzy, Fairfax reports.
“We have to be able to control every movement and every utterance because of the threat they pose,” NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos told Fairfax.
“We don’t want to see any risk to people either inside or outside the system.
“We simply can’t take our eye off them.”
© 2007 AAP
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