Guardian : Study rejects claim that Muslim areas harbour terrorists

Study rejects claim that Muslim areas harbour terrorists

· Researchers cite home of July 7 bombers
· Government has focused on segregation as problem

Vikram Dodd | The Guardian | November 20, 2006

Muslims living in ghettos are no more likely to become involved in terrorism than those living in mixed areas, according to research to be published today.

The study by Manchester University says that "terrorist hotbeds" are a fantasy and concludes that Islamist terrorists are as likely to come from towns and cities with small Muslim populations as from so-called "self-segregating" Muslim areas.

In the wake of the July 7 bombings the government set up a special commission on integration aiming to tackle "segregation" which it has been claimed contributes to violent extremism.

Trevor Phillips, head of the Commission for Racial Equality, claimed that "maximising integration" led to "minimising extremism" in his September 2005 speech in which he claimed Britain was "sleepwalking to segregation".

Draft documents from the Department for Education asking universities to help anti-terrorism police identify potential extremists warned that Muslims from "segregated" backgrounds were more likely to hold radical views than those who have "integrated into wider society", according to a version obtained by the Guardian.

The Manchester University study examined the cases of 75 Muslims charged with terrorism offences. It looked at the areas they came from and examined what percentage of the population were Muslim, as stated in the 2001 census.

The study's authors said they could not examine the backgrounds of those convicted, as only nine out of 27 people found guilty of terrorist offences since September 11 2001 are Muslim, and therefore would provide too small a sample.

In districts with the highest proportion of people who follow Islam there was a one in 25,436 chance of a Muslim being charged with terrorism.

In areas with a low percentage of Muslims, there was a higher chance of people being charged with terrorist offences. In such areas the probability was one in 14,692 of a Muslim being charged with terrorism.

The study authors say this is probably just a statistical quirk and say more research needs to be done.

But the study is firm about the findings about its initial research: "Muslims charged with terrorism under UK legislation are no more likely to come from districts where the proportion of Muslims are highest, than from other districts.

Indeed, the residential distribution of Muslims charged with terrorism over the four district types is very similar to that of the Muslim population as a whole.

"The assumption that 'Muslim terrorists' are most likely to reside in places with high proportions of Muslims is unfounded and should not be used to inform debate or strategies to tackle terrorism."

Beeston in Leeds, where three of the four July 7 bombers lived, has a Muslim population of 3%. A ghetto is classed as an area where two-thirds of the population come from the same group.

Jermaine Lindsay, the other July 7 bomber, came from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, which has a relatively small Muslim population. Saajid Badat, who was convicted of plotting to blow up a passenger plane, came from Gloucester, which also has a small Muslim population.

Ludi Simpson, who co-authored the study, said: "The research suggests that Muslims living in large numbers together are not more likely to be involved in terrorism. The so-called danger of segregated areas does not seem to be based on evidence." The study is the second one in recent weeks to fail to support government thinking on social cohesion.

Research from the University of Lancaster showed that white schoolchildren were less willing to integrate than Asian Muslim children of a similar age. That study, paid for by the government, found that white children were more intolerant of other faiths and races when educated separately than Asian Muslim pupils.