02 June 2016

Prison Islam course 'could turn prisoners to violence'

A manual used by imams to teach prison inmates about Islam risks "turning people into jihadis", a cleric says.

Sheikh Musa Admani told the BBC the Tarbiyah programme, used in English and Welsh prisons since 2011, could turn people towards violence and should be withdrawn.

A section of the programme is on jihad, and it says taking up arms to fight "evil" is "one of the noblest acts".

The Ministry of Justice will investigate issues raised by the BBC.

The BBC understands that the Tarbiyah programme was co-written by a number of imams and Ahtsham Ali, a prisons adviser to the Ministry of Justice.

Mr Ali declined to comment.

Another teaching course was withdrawn by the department last year because it was based on texts written by extremists. [BBC] Read more