Three in four jihadists in Britain have links to non-violent Islamist groups before they go on to join terror groups, a new report has revealed.
Researchers looked at the lives of 113 men and women who had joined jihadist groups from the 1980s onwards.
Seventy-seven per cent of the jihadists were found to have had links to Islamist organisations or others with an extremist ideology, researchers at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change found.
The report, seen by The Times , calls for authorities monitor the groups more closely, and identifies six individuals who have shaped the movement, including hate preacher Abu Hamza
The report, seen by The Times, calls for authorities monitor the groups more closely. And it identifies six individuals who have shaped the jihadist movement in the UK.
They include hate preachers Anjem Choudary, Abu Hamza, Abdullah el-Faisal, Hani al-Sibai, Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu Qatada.
The research also found that men are less likely to be radicalised online than women.
‘At least 44 per cent of our sample of women were partly radicalised online, for half of whom there were no known Islamist links in person,’ the report read.
Anjem Choudary was one of the hate preachers who was found to have shaped the movement
‘In contrast, only four per cent of men in our sample had an online element noted in their radicalisation.’
Of the sample studied, 58 per cent of men spent time in prison and most had been jailed for jihadist crimes.
Seven served time in young offender institutions while at least four were radicalised while in prison.
‘Many are well-educated,’ the report said. ‘Thirty-one per cent started a degree, and over half of these studied Stemm [Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine] subjects.’
A third of the sample studied humanities or social sciences. Just four had read Islamic Studies and five were dropouts.
Most British jihadists have links to non-violent Islamist groups before they go on to join terror groups, a new report has revealed.
These include the hate preachers Anjem Choudary, Abu Hamza, Abdullah el-Faisal, Hani al-Sibai, Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu Qatada, according to The Times, which has seen the report.
Researchers also found that men are less likely to be radicalised online than women.