Islamic group hiring young Britons: Report
A top radical group which Blair wants to ban is recruiting young Muslim students at British univs under several names.
A leading radical Islamist group which Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to ban is recruiting "vulnerable" young Muslim students at British universities under several cover names, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Independent on Sunday said Hizb ut-Tahrir, banned from campuses by the National Union of Students, has set up front organisations at more than a dozen universities with innocuous-sounding names such as the Ideological Society, the Millennium Forum and the New World Society.
Muslim student leaders warned that Hizb would target "vulnerable" young Muslims when the new university term starts later in September, it said.
"Before, we could stop the recruitment; we could save vulnerable people," said Faisal Hanjra, a spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, according to the newspaper.
"Now, we have no idea who is targeting whom," he was quoted as saying.
The Independent on Sunday said Hizb failed to respond when approached for comment.
Hizb ut-Tahrir and another extreme group, Al-Muhajiroun, face being banned under measures the Blair's government has proposed in the wake of terrorist attacks in July that killed 52 commuters in London.
Although both deny supporting violence, they are accused of radicalising young Muslims to the point where they attract the attention of terrorist recruiters.
Hasan Patel, a former member of the NUS national executive, said a ban on Hizb could lead to a rise in its membership. "When you ban something, you romanticise it," he warned, according to the newspaper.
Vice-chancellors are to be issued with new guidelines to deal with extremism on campus, it said.
