Originally from Belarus, Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev (45) was arrested by the Kurd-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) just before the New Year. He holds an Irish passport and was being closely monitored as a suspected Islamic extremist by the Garda Special Branch before he left the country in 2013 and travelled to Syria.

Roehampton University’s Prof. Michael Barnes SJ told The Irish Catholic that de-radicalization strategies that treat people such as Mr Bekmirzaev as if they are mentally ill or brainwashed are “barking up the wrong tree”, and that solutions to extremism need to be sought within Islam itself.

Trinity College lecturer and Muslim scholar, Dr Ali Salim of the Islamic Cultural Centre, said that tackling extremism is down to education. “The way we counter radical thinking is by education, we educate our community here about their religion and the spirit of peace in their religion,” he said.

Source: The Irish Catholic

The issue of extremism across Europe has manifested itself in myriad ways in recent years, including significant and deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels, Berlin and now Manchester, all claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS), which is based in Iraq and Syria. And while individual terrorist incidents tend to increase fears about extremism, there has been great concern globally about the issue throughout the last decade.

In many of the countries polled this year, much of the public is very concerned about extremism in the name of Islam. This includes 51% in Italy and Spain, 47% in Germany, 46% in France and 43% in the UK. Meanwhile, less than 15% of the population in all these countries is not at all concerned about the threat of extremism in the name of Islam.

Fears about extremism, while pervasive across all demographic groups, are particularly acute among older people and those who consider themselves on the right of the ideological spectrum. For example, in the UK, 87% of those ages 50 and older are concerned about extremism in the name of Islam, compared with 61% among Brits ages 18 to 29. Similarly significant age gaps exist in nine of the 12 countries surveyed. When it comes to ideology, there are significant gaps between those on the right and left in 10 of the 12 countries surveyed. In Canada, for instance, 66% of those who place themselves on the right politically say they are concerned about extremism, compared with only 30% on the left.

Continue reading at Pew Research Center’s Website.