Saudi Arabia has 'clear link' to UK extremism, says report
Henry Jackson Society says kingdom is 'top of the list' in funding terrorism
A new report has named Saudi Arabia as the foremost source of funding and promotion of Islamist extremism in the UK.
"While countries from across the Gulf and Iran have been guilty of advancing extremism, Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly at the top of the list," report author Tom Wilson of the Henry Jackson Society said.
The Gulf state has spent millions of dollars to "export Wahhabi Islam across the Islamic world, including to Muslim communities in the west" since the 1960s, says the report.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In the UK, it adds, "this funding has primarily taken the form of endowments to mosques and Islamic educational institutions, which have in turn played host to extremist preachers and the distribution of extremist literature.
"A number of Britain's most serious Islamist hate preachers sit within the Salafi-Wahhabi ideology."
Saudi Arabia "is likely to be angered by the findings", The Guardian says, since its dispute with Qatar "has largely been based on the accusation that its Gulf rival is both the primary funder terrorism overseas and harbours terrorists that support the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas".
Prime Minister Theresa May is also under pressure to make public her government's own report on foreign funding of extremism in the UK.
She has been accused of "kowtowing" to Saudi Arabia by "suppressing" the report, says the Daily Telegraph.
The study, which was commissioned by David Cameron in 2015, was due to be completed by last Easter and is believed to have been in May’s possession for at least six months.
A spokesman for the Home Office said in May it may never be published as its contents were "very sensitive".
Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas told The Guardian yesterday the "astonishing" delay "leaves question marks over whether their decision is influenced by our diplomatic ties".
She added: "To defeat terror it’s vital that politicians have full view of the facts, even if they are inconvenient for the government."
The UK is one of the top suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia, "with successive governments, both Labour and Conservative, signing major arms deals with the kingdom", says Al Jazeera.
But a government spokesperson told Al Jazeera that Saudi Arabia was not the main focus of the report and denied the delay was linked to any sensitivity surrounding the kingdom.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Is the Gaza war tearing U.S. campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
14 recent scientific breakthroughs
In Depth From photos of the infant universe to an energy advancement that could save the planet
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Sydney mall attacker may have targeted women
Speed Read Police commissioner says gender of victims is 'area of interest' to investigators
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
The Red Army Faction: German fugitive arrested after decades on run
Why Everyone's Talking About Police reward and TV appeal leads to capture of Daniela Klette, now 65
By The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published