Prison converts to Islam join radicals in Yemen :: Political News and commentaries

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January 20, 2010

Prison converts to Islam join radicals in Yemen

Topics: Political News and commentaries

More home-grown Muslim extremists heading to Yemen, and their radicalism was allowed to occur in the course of converting to Islam while in prison.

From the New York Times: Ex-Convicts From U.S. Said to Join Yemen Radicals:

WASHINGTON -- Some American former convicts who converted to Islam in prison have moved to Yemen and a few may have joined extremist groups there, according to a new Senate report.

The report, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says that as many as 36 American Muslims who were prisoners have moved to Yemen in recent months, ostensibly to study Arabic, and that several of them have "dropped off the radar" and may have connected to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The report warns that Americans recruited in Yemen or Somalia may pose a particular threat, since they can operate freely inside the United States.

The fact that prison converts to Islam are highly subject to radicalism is nothing new. As pointed out at RadicalIslam.org, an unusually high number of convicts are being converted to Islam:

[...] In particular, African Americans in the prison system are converting at an alarming pace. According to estimates, up to 20 percent of prisoners in the U.S. are Muslims. This figure is approximately 20 times higher than the national Muslim population average

[...] Wahhabi-trained Imams have gained a monopoly on prisons and teach their radical interpretations of Islam to new converts. When no federally-trained Imams are available, prisoners themselves often lead their communities without direct supervision.

Convicts are supposed to be learning the tools to return to society as mentally-stable individuals, offering positive contributions, and avoiding further criminal behavior. Instead, many inmates are learning and practicing Radical Islam.

Upon their release from prison, these former convicts return to society with an 'ax to grind' and a new found perversion of religion which preaches Jihad against western values.

Many former inmates prefer to stay in an Islamic community setting. These individuals have been recruited to Radical Muslim enclaves such as Islamberg, NY. Others return to typical communities across the country.

And now, according to the NY Times, they're going to Yemen, supposedly for studying Arabic and Islam, but if you believe they're not being further radicalized, I've got some swamp land in Florida to sell you.

Disturbingly, as Pastorious points out over at Astute Bloggers, we've known for forty years now (since the days of Malcolm X, who was himself converted in prison) that Islam is a problem in our prisons. And yet, we still allow it to go on.

Related videos: Islam in America's prisons: