Despite being sent to maximum security jails in Britain, Islamic extremists are preaching hate to new inmates, breeding a fresh generation of radicals willing to launch terror attacks

A nine-month inquiry by the British home affairs select committee into the roots of violent radicalization found that, in some cases, inmates were being persuaded to carry out suicide missions within days of entering prison. The findings are published as four radical Islamists are due to be sentenced for plotting a major terror attack before Christmas 2011 on the London Stock Exchange, the London Eye and other important landmarks. Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, Shah Rahman, 28, Abdul Miah, 25, and Gurukanth Desai, 30, will be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court for the Mumbai-style terror plot. It is believed that Miah was radicalized in prison after being sentenced for drugs and weapons offenses. The report, “Roots of Radicalisation”, identified prisons as one of the major breeding grounds for terrorism-related Islamic extremism. It also recognised the dangers posed by the Internet and the role played by universities, where radical preachers were often invited to speak without being robustly challenged. In compiling their report, British MPs visited the maximum security Belmarsh Prison in south-east London, which detains some of the most dangerous extremists in the country and where 20% of inmates are Muslim. One inmate sent to Belmarsh on remand was persuaded to undertake a martyrdom mission within 72 hours of arriving. The unnamed individual was housed three cells away from the black radical Jamaican Islamic preacher Abdullah al-Faisal who convinced him to become a suicide bomber within three days.