24/05/2013 Newsnight


24/05/2013

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Tonight the week that shocked us all, after the horrific murder of

:00:16.:00:20.

Drummer Lee Rigby, what can any Government do to prevent the

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radicalisation of potentially violent young men. We have an

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exclusive interview of one of the childhood friends that we have just

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recorded. The authorities say they are

:00:33.:00:39.

increasingly worried about a small number of extremists. There are a

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handful of people inspired by these two guys we will have a big problem

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that we have to deal with, and it can't be dealt with Security

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Services and police alone. Good evening, we have an

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extraordinary interview tonight of a childhood friend of one of the

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men arrested for the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. He tells us the

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background of the man and why he converted to Islam, and he tells us

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something of what might have made him become radicalised. Give us a

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bit of the background to this. Dramatic events tonight. We have

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spent the last two hours trying to secure an interview with a

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childhood friend of one of the men accused of the murder. We arranged

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for that interview. He came into the BBC. We conducted the interview.

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Immediately after the interview I'm told three people from Special

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Branch were in the BBC premises, they arrested the man. And so you

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know very dramatic events tonight. In the interview itself it shows an

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interesting portrait of the interviewee, and also the suspect,

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Michael Adebolajo. I started by asking him about his early

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childhood. How long have you known Michael Adebolajo? We met roughly

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about early 2002. Where did you meet? We met at Romford, Essex.

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what the circumstances of you meeting, was it a social contact,

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was he a friend? I used to go down there to chill out with some of my

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friends, basically. And during the course of going down there we, one

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day we bumped into each other. It was a strange thing, we didn't see

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a lot of black guys down there, it was like how are you. We exchanged

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number and from there the relationship built up.

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At that time were you both non- Muslims, I understand you are both

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reverts to Islam? I wasn't in Islam. I came to Islam 2004, late 2004

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basically. He came in about four months after me. It is well known,

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it is established on the record that he was known and he knew the

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group Al-Muhajiroun, did you know him in those circles? He used to

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attend some of those events there, he was an independent guy, he

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wasn't stuck to one particular group. He would go to various

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circles and listen to various people. He wasn't stuck only with

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Anjem Choudary and others. He would float about, basically. But he knew

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them? He was aware of them. He had attended one or two events. I have

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interviewed Anjem Choudary and others on many occasions, one of

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the core beliefs and things that they aspire to is Sharia Law for

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example, in the UK, was that position your position and his

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position? I had that position myself which changed at a different

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time. Michael never took that position, he thought it was more

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sensible for Muslims to live in Muslim lands and live by the Sharia

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in Muslim lands, he thought that made more sense that living in the

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west and trying to implement the Sharia here. Did he consider

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emigrating to a Muslim land? He did, many times, I remember he wanted to

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do some qualifications in relation to teaching. He wanted to do a

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qualification in relation to fitness training, which he

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eventually did. He wanted to use that to go abroad and live in a

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Muslim country. That's some of the background to the suspect, Michael

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Adebolajo. But did he give us any clues as to what actually turned a

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switch in this man's head and made him into this violent person,

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potentially? He did. He said that about six months ago he had a

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conversation with him in London and he says that Adebolajo told him,

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the interviewee, that he had a very bad experience in Kenya. We don't

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have any way of independently confirming this. This is the

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account he gave us. He said he had travelled to Kenya, he was arrested

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and picked up by the Kenyan authorities. He alleges he was

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tortured and abused. He says that he noticed that it fundamentally

:05:11.:05:21.
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changed his mind set after that experience. You describe Michael

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Adebolajo as a gentle man, the way you are decribing him. The contrast

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with someone who is capable of murdering on British streets is

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very, very stark indeed. How do you understand that? Yeah, I mean I

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believe certain event that happened to him recently kind of had an

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impact in shaping that change. Although that change wasn't

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necessarily one that became overt, aggressive or anything like that,

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he just became more kind of reclined and less talkive and so

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forth, like he wasn't his bubbly self, basically. The recent events

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were about six months ago he turned up one day, just out of the blue,

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no number or anything, he said basically what happened was he went

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to study in Kenya. When he got to Kenya in a particular village they

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were rounded up Kenyan troops and taken to a prison cell. They were

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interrogated one by one, when his turn came he didn't speak to him.

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Generally here he said no comment, he wouldn't speak to them. He said

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that basically the officer said you are not in the UK, basically you

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know taking his private parts he said I will "F" you if you wouldn't

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speak. They beat him badly and his comment was, he said he wasn't like,

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by oath, by good, that he feel shy to describe to you what they did to

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him. These were his exact words. He felt shy to describe what they did

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to him, basically. Did he tell you he was physically and sexually

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asaulted He told me he was physically assaulted and sexually

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threatened. He indicated from what I know of him, and when he said he

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was ashamed to tell you what had happened to him, as far as I

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understand it is actual abuse. There was nothing he would feel shy

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to tell me about except that. did he tell you that? This is

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roughly about six months ago, that is an estimate. Did you have any

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doubt that he was telling the truth at that time? No. If you looked at

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his face, you know, and he was holding tears back when he was

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mentioning it. My impression, when I heard it is I wanted to hug him.

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He's a close friend of mine. I wanted to hug him like a brother to

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say it's OK. It's fine, don't worry about it. So your judgment is that

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he had quite a profound change of personality after that? Definitely.

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He just became you know, he would be dour, you would be like we need

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to invite people to join Islam and he would say, yeah. His mind was

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somewhere else but he was present. Did he give any indication to you

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that he was capable of such horrific violence? No, when I saw

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the photos initially of him, I thought it was a joke. I thought

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are you serious, it can't be him. There is no way it can be him.

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Because it didn't make sense because his whole concept you know

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was he just wanted to go and live in the Muslim land and get away

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from all the problems and all the troubles, basically. At that time

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he was being harassed by MI5. This is something that he specifically

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mentioned to me. He said MI5 had come to him. On his return back he

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had been stopped and subsequently after that he was followed up by

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MI5. He said they came to his house. They were knocking on his door. He

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pretended that he wasn't there. But they were knocking so much he

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thought he needed to come and show his face. He came out, he spoke to

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the MI5 agent and they were saying they just wanted a chat with him,

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they just wanted to speak with him. When did he tell you this? Roughly

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about six months ago. What was his reaction to being approached by the

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Security Service and MI5? situation was that his wording was,

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you know, they are bugging him, they won't leave him alone.

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they explain what they wanted? mentioned initially they want to

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ask him did he know certain individuals. After him saying he

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didn't know the individuals, what he said is they asked him whether

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he would be interested in working for them. Did you think he did end

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up doing any work for them or not? No, he was explicit in that, he

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refused to work for them. He did confirm that he didn't know the

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individuals that they asked him whether he knew. There is a lot of

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allegations there. We will come to them in a second. On the MI5 point

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a lot of people will be thinking that is MI5 doing their job?

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Absolutely, we have no way of verifying this, of course. What I

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would say, in general terms, is that Security Services will of

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course approach people to provide information or even act as covert

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sources. This is part of the work they do more generally. I don't

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think we can expect them to comment on this case specifically. In

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general terms, it is not out of the ordinary to expect the Security

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Services approach people for information. What we heard about

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Kenya. Kenya for some people is a tourist destination, for others it

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is a route into Somalia and to joining Al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda

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affiliate, and Kenya itself has a severe terrorist problem?

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certainly is. On this man's account we hear he was picked up by the

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Kenyan authorities. We have no way of substantiating this at the

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moment. It is plausible as a story. One could say that. We will have to

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wait and see whether we can actually get other coroborating

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evidence to back it up. In terms of your interviewee, Abu Nusaybah,

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what was his reaction to these horrific events a couple of days

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ago. If he knew, would he have done anything to stop something like

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this? He was quite clear in the interview. He is quite open about

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having been influenced by Al- Muhajiroun, this Islamist group in

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the past and its leaders in the past. He was clear tonight that if

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he had been told, which he wasn't, about any plans for these horrific

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violent attacks, he would have done his best to dissuade this young man

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from carrying those out. He says it is not justified. His reaction to

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what he saw was horror that everybody else had? He tells me he

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was horrified by it. He couldn't believe it when he saw the images.

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He couldn't believe this was the young man he used to hang around

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with in 2003, he was very, very shocked, so he says.

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Thank you very much. For some more perspective on this we have been

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looking at some of the ways in which the Government and

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communities shrb trying to take on -- have been trying to take on

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radical Islamists in communities. East London, one of the areas the

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Government believes is most likely to be a breeding ground for

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extremism. Up a narrow flight of stairs beside a mosque is a project

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the state has invested in as part of its key counter terrorism plan,

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the Prevent Strategy. It is a youth club. The Active Change Foundation,

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games and other activities are a tool to draw mostly disaffected,

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mainly Muslim people in off the streets, listen to their problems

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and engage them in discussion. the last period of ten years we

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have built up such a relationship within the community and the young

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people, we are recognised, if you like, the middle people between the

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authorities and the young people. The young people have learned to

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trust us in the past years. Prevent Strategy was set up after

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the 2005 London bombings to try to tack the radicalisation of Muslim

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youth, by integration and argument. But for place like this, Muslim

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workers say, there would be far more extremists than those

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suspected of the murder in Woolich. If people are angered by the

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foreign policy, one thing is they might see on the internet or on the

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news a situation someone has taken things into their own hands and

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gone and do this. We say that is wrong. If you are against foreign

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policy this is not the way to deal with it. This is not the way to

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tackle it. But state funding for this project and others was cut

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back when the coalition Government came to power. That followed

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criticism that Prevent was unfocused and it sometimes even

:14:34.:14:36.

subsidised the very extremist organisations it should have been

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confronting. That's not stopped youth workers

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here getting on their bikes every day. Even in the rain to engage

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with young people in parks and on street corners and to find out what

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they are thinking. They didn't want us to follow them, because of

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course it is bad for their credibility to be seen with outside

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authority figures. That points up one of the difficulties of the

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whole programme, it is about integration but also intelligence

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gathering. Some people think that is not a very comfortable

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combination. Prevent has to avoid being seen as

:15:11.:15:15.

a form of state snooping. But on the other hand, to be an effective

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counter terrorism policy, it has to help identify potentially dangerous

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extremists. You are listening and if you hear,

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or any of the outreach workers hear things that worry them. Yep.

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terms of inclination towards terrorism and extremism, do you

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report that, and to who? We don't need to report that. We bring those

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young people into our sent, -- centre, we talk to them, we have

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workshops, depending on the issue out on the street with the young

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person. We have developed a relationship with our young people.

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They do trust us. So when they are angry and upset about something

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they do voice it out to us, they might not do it with anybody else.

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Isn't it your duty to report that as part of the strategy? Report

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what, what are we supposed to be reporting, when someone's life is

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in danger. Report that someone might have an inclination towards

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terrorism? Absolutely right. But when we talk to young people out

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there, they are angry and upset, they have a right to be an and

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upset about that, they are not telling me they will do something

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bad. What will I try to report, what are you asking me. In practice

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they do sometimes exchange information with the authorities.

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Of course the most dangerous people may be off the radar of projects

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like this. In the wake of the Woolich killing, the project's head,

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has rushed back early from a trip to Pakistan. He's afraid some

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extremists will now try to copy Wednesday's atrocity. He can't

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confront them because the Government is nervous about letting

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organisations like his tackle the most incendiary preachers in debate.

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It has become very risk adverse. This is a risky business. We as an

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organisation have set our up tole challenge the problem. We know the

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-- to challenge the problem. We know there are risks in this but we

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have to challenge the people head on. Has the Prevent project failed,

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because the scope has been too narrow. Prevent was lacking in

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ambition, it only concerned itself with violent extremism and looked

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at intervening at that point. They should have been going much further

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downstream and looking at people who espouse extremist views. As we

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have seen in Woolich, people who hold extremist views then go on to

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commit terrorist attacks. We need to be doing into that sub culture

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of extremism, which preaches separation and confrontation with

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British society and with our values and working on people at that stage.

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Once they go operational it is too late. Community engagment like this

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may have prevented some attacks. But it hasn't solved the problem of

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radicalisation. As we have seen this week, the price of getting it

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wrong is very high. I'm joined now to discuss this by

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the CEO of the Active Change Foundation, you saw that in the

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film. We have the research and policy director for a think-tank

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helping to advise the Government on tackling on-line extremism. You

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heard our discussion with Richard Watson earlier and the interview. I

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wondered if that pattern seemed familiar to you? The pattern of

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somebody who seemed to fit in at one point to British society, and

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then didn't? Yeah, if you look back at some of the cases that we have

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uncovered in the past, the airline plot, some of the guys in the 7/7

:18:41.:18:44.

bombings, a similar pattern. Very involved in mainstream, and all of

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a sudden they have excluded themselves from society.

:18:48.:18:52.

Guardian has pretty much on the same theme, a crackdown on the

:18:52.:18:56.

preachers of hate as soldier families grieve. How do you do

:18:56.:19:00.

that? Crack down on the preachers of hate if so far under British law

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they are not committing any offence? It is difficult. They are

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not committing any offence, if we look back and the amount of times

:19:07.:19:12.

that Anjem Choudary and his like have been associated to terrorist

:19:12.:19:16.

plots and violent extremist individuals, there comes a point

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when you have to say what do we do with these guy. First of all the

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communities they operate within, I will give you an example in Waltham

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Forest, or in Birmingham, you have a number of mosques preaching Islam

:19:28.:19:35.

on a daily basis, why does a third party, someone unknown and not a

:19:35.:19:41.

legitimate scholar coming into the area and preaching a warped version

:19:41.:19:45.

of Islam. But you don't have to leave your house to see this stuff.

:19:45.:19:49.

The Government would say the communications data Bill, at least

:19:49.:19:53.

the Conservatives in the Government would say that is a way forward,

:19:53.:19:56.

but it isn't going forward? Internet is playing a larger role

:19:56.:20:01.

in more and more cases. We have to take it seriously and something the

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Governments right across Europe and North America are looking at. There

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is two different elements to this, one around the negative measures

:20:06.:20:12.

you can take. Getting stuff offline that is on-line, the filtering, the

:20:13.:20:17.

take-down approach. When you think about the fact that extremists are

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now moving towards social media member site, and there are five

:20:25.:20:32.

billion new pieces of data uploaded to Facebook, and the same to

:20:32.:20:35.

YouTube, there is extreme limitations to that approach. Much

:20:35.:20:39.

more focus needs to be put on how you can get the 99% of us who are

:20:39.:20:45.

the good guys more active on-line, challenging, disrupting and how you

:20:45.:20:50.

can use creative approaches to drown out the noise that the 1% are

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making. That is interesting that implies that there is a bat of

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ideas, but one side is really -- a battle of ideas but one side is

:20:58.:21:04.

fighting it and the other side aren't? 99% are good guys and 1%

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aren't, but they shout the loudest and have the clearest message. We

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need to rouse that 99%. Of course people will concentrate on those

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who will be violent or they think may be prone to violence, but it

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may be the people who won't do anything violent who are just as

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dangerous, if not more, because they incite it? This is why I think

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community outreach and engagment programmes are important. Talking

:21:32.:21:39.

about issues, contentious issues like Afghanistan and other things,

:21:39.:21:42.

things that are angering our young people. We need to have engagment

:21:42.:21:46.

in the hope we come across extremist views. It does arouse

:21:46.:21:49.

those individuals to speak about it and those who are silent. It is our

:21:49.:21:54.

job to filter out who we need to work more with and who we don't.

:21:54.:21:59.

This is a horrific crime, but is this a watershed moment? I don't

:21:59.:22:02.

think it is a watershed, we have seen examples like this over the

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last five or so years in the terrorism domain. This isn't a new

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thing. We have seen things like this in other European countries. I

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think we are definitely going to be seeing a shift to these kinds of

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low tech attacks more often. small groups? Partly because our

:22:19.:22:22.

police and Intelligence Services have been effective at tackling

:22:22.:22:27.

more sophisticated plots. What is different here, I beg beg to differ,

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is these guys have set a precedent. They have apologised to the women

:22:32.:22:36.

and children and females, they have stragically attacked a military

:22:36.:22:40.

target. And what that has done is given them legitimacy. So other

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people who have got similar views and similar sentiments now see that

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as they have done right. They haven't attacked any innocent

:22:47.:22:50.

person, in their view they have attacked a person with a military

:22:50.:22:54.

background. That's worrying. will leave it there, thank you both

:22:54.:22:57.

very much. Big change of gear, and the hot tip

:22:57.:23:01.

for the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this weekend is a

:23:01.:23:08.

black comedy about the private life about lib a mucy, the director won

:23:08.:23:18.
:23:18.:23:18.

at -- Liberace, Stephen Sodenberg said this film will be his last

:23:18.:23:21.

because Hollywood wouldn't back his story, apparently it is too gay for

:23:22.:23:24.

the cinema audience. It will be released on cable in the United

:23:24.:23:29.

States and will appear in UK cinemas next month. We have been to

:23:29.:23:32.

the south of France for an exclusive interview with the

:23:32.:23:42.
:23:42.:23:45.

director. You may have heard reports from the Cannes Film

:23:45.:23:50.

Festival that a lot of the bling has gone missing, but hello, I

:23:50.:23:56.

don't think so. I know someone in the audience who preerts this!

:23:56.:24:00.

Michael Douglas's performance as the spaingled virto sow, Liberace,

:24:00.:24:10.
:24:10.:24:10.

has been the talk of France. When I was working saloons in Milwaukee,

:24:10.:24:15.

they called them saloons, that is how old I am. I'm from Wisconsin

:24:15.:24:19.

too. No, you are, well this must be fate.

:24:19.:24:29.
:24:29.:24:29.

Newsnight met the director, Stephen Sodeberg, at his arduous Riviera

:24:29.:24:33.

billet. Thank you for inviting us to this summer house you have going

:24:33.:24:38.

here. It is a tough job and somebody has to do it! It is brutal

:24:39.:24:43.

but I soldier on. I suppose we are old enough to remember Liberace in

:24:43.:24:47.

his prime, watching your film it came back to me how extraordinary

:24:47.:24:55.

that was. He really was the sort of you know, the Godfather of bling.

:24:55.:24:59.

Absolutely. He really singlehandedly created the idea of

:24:59.:25:06.

bling, and the idea that a performer could sort of be so

:25:06.:25:13.

extravagant. When he was alive, and the world and its laws were rather

:25:13.:25:16.

different, the story about Liberace was that he just hadn't met the

:25:16.:25:22.

right girl! In fact, it wasn't only the ief rees he tickled. The new

:25:22.:25:29.

film -- ivories he tickled, the new film is based on the memoirs of his

:25:29.:25:33.

lover, Scott. Jack I want to talk about doing surgery on Scott here.

:25:33.:25:41.

Fine, what would you like me to do with Scott? I want you to make

:25:41.:25:47.

Scott look like this! This won't be shown in American cinemas, is it

:25:47.:25:53.

too gay for conservative Hollywood. Oh I see, yes I think I can do what

:25:53.:25:57.

you want. You're going to need a nose job. It was more frustrating

:25:57.:26:04.

than anything else. I understood the, I understood the economic

:26:04.:26:09.

issue that they were concerned that there wasn't an audience for the

:26:09.:26:14.

film beyond a gay audience. I didn't share that belief, but

:26:14.:26:18.

that's certainly how they felt. But it was more frustrating, I just

:26:18.:26:22.

thought we didn't need, we had financed the movie almost entirely

:26:22.:26:28.

out of foreign. We only needed add small amount, and I thought we had

:26:28.:26:33.

a great script and we had Michael and Matt. I was surprised. You have

:26:33.:26:37.

Hollywood full of gay stars who don't wish to appear as gay and you

:26:37.:26:42.

are casting well known straight actors in these parts? I don't know,

:26:42.:26:49.

I'm hoping that some day all these discussions will become irrelevant,

:26:49.:26:54.

you know. And that people won't care in the same way that

:26:54.:27:04.
:27:04.:27:04.

ultimately even after the story broke of Scott and L i in the

:27:04.:27:10.

tabloids nobody cared. I have never been in casting session everywhere

:27:10.:27:15.

somebody's personal sexual preference was ever discussed as a

:27:15.:27:23.

topic. I think, hmmm, black piano, black tuxedo, who is going to see

:27:23.:27:33.
:27:33.:27:36.

me in this giant clam shell! Well I ask you, can you see me now?

:27:36.:27:43.

unimprovably titled, Behind The Candelabra arrives smack in the

:27:43.:27:49.

middle of the gay marriage debate. The fact that it will arrive at a

:27:49.:27:55.

key inflex in the whole discussion point is interesting. I'm not a big

:27:55.:27:59.

believer in the idea that movies really influence that kind of

:27:59.:28:08.

decision making for people. I'm glad right now that the movey will

:28:08.:28:12.

be viewed through that lens of what is happening socially with this

:28:12.:28:18.

issue. Why don't you let me tape you? Doing what? Talking. About

:28:18.:28:25.

what? The director won at Cannes with his debut feeture, Sex Lies

:28:25.:28:28.

and Videotape, a benchmark in independent cinema. Now he says

:28:28.:28:38.

he's turning in his bullhorn and Darren Jolly purrs. -- jolpurs. Has

:28:38.:28:43.

Hollywood got in the way of making movies? That is one of a handful of

:28:43.:28:48.

things that got me thinking about five years ago that I would like to

:28:48.:28:56.

have an exit strategy. My own feeling that I would like to stop,

:28:56.:28:59.

destroy everything I have done and see if I can rebuild and come out

:28:59.:29:03.

from a completely different angle and become primitive again. I don't

:29:03.:29:06.

know if that is possible, I don't know if you can consciously do that,

:29:06.:29:11.

but I'm going to try. You are tweeting a novel, is this true?

:29:11.:29:21.
:29:21.:29:26.

trying to take advantage of its I'm not sure how but there is a

:29:26.:29:29.

muscle being exercised in this experiment that I know is connected

:29:29.:29:34.

to me trying to figure out the next version of me as a film maker.

:29:34.:29:38.

don't wake up in the night frightened that they won't let you

:29:38.:29:42.

back into this fabulous sweet shop. This fabulous dream factory and

:29:42.:29:47.

they will say sorry, you turned your back on movies, good luck with

:29:47.:29:51.

that Twitter thing, but the door is closed, my friend. I would be fine

:29:51.:29:54.

with that. I never imagined that all of this would happen to me,

:29:54.:29:58.

that I would have gone this far, been able to make as many films as

:29:58.:30:07.

I have and be able to control them. That's, I have had plenty of fun.

:30:07.:30:14.

Aren't you sweet! Not bad for an old bag, huh?

:30:14.:30:24.
:30:24.:30:36.

A quick look at two of the front That's it for Newsnight, we are

:30:36.:30:39.

back on Tuesday, enjoy the bank back on Tuesday, enjoy the bank

:30:39.:30:49.
:30:49.:31:11.

Good evening, it's a bank holiday weekend, and for once it looks like

:31:11.:31:15.

the weather want to play along, at least forea while. For Saturday

:31:15.:31:18.

much dryer and brighter for England and Wales on Friday. Much warmer as

:31:18.:31:23.

well and with a much lighter wind. Another pretty decent day across

:31:23.:31:25.

the majority of Scotland and Northern Ireland as well. A really

:31:25.:31:29.

big contrast for England and Wales after the cold wind and rain on

:31:29.:31:35.

Friday. Some fairly recent sunshine and highs of 15, 16 and 17 on

:31:35.:31:39.

Saturday. Just a little cooler along the east coast with the winds

:31:39.:31:41.

feeding off the North Sea. For Scotland and Northern Ireland,

:31:41.:31:45.

plenty of sunshine on the whole. Particularly around the Moray firth,

:31:45.:31:50.

highs of 17, 18. Cloud in the west, we could see rain on and off the

:31:50.:31:53.

likes of the Western Isles from time to time. Sunday still looks

:31:53.:31:58.

like a pretty reasonable day. Particularly by bank holiday

:31:58.:32:01.

weekend standards, for the bulk of the UK. A bit more cloud sitting

:32:02.:32:05.

towards the North West. Perhaps not that much sunshine to be found

:32:05.:32:08.

during the day across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Any rain here

:32:08.:32:11.

should be fairly light and patchy. For England and Wales, the best of

:32:11.:32:15.

the sunshine towards the west, highs of 20 degrees, a bit more

:32:15.:32:20.

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