British government declines to publish review on funding of extremism

By Michael Holden

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LONDON (Reuters) – The British government said on Wednesday it would not publish in full its report on the sources of funding of Islamist extremism in Britain, prompting opposition charges it was trying to protect its ally Saudi Arabia.

The report, commissioned by former Prime Minister David Cameron in November 2015, was handed to the government last year and ministers have been under pressure to release its findings following three deadly attacks in Britain since March which have been blamed on Islamists.

But Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that though some extremist Islamist organizations were receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds she had decided against publishing the review in full.

“This is because of the volume of personal information it contains and for national security reasons,” she said in a written statement to parliament.

The review found the most common source of support for these organizations was from small, anonymous donations from people based in Britain, Rudd said.

But it also found overseas funding was a significant source of income for a small number of organizations.

“Overseas support has allowed individuals to study at institutions that teach deeply conservative forms of Islam and provide highly socially conservative literature and preachers to the UK’s Islamic institutions,” Rudd’s statement said. “Some of these individuals have since become of extremist concern.”

Critics were quick to see a cover-up to shield Saudi Arabia, a powerful Gulf ally of Britain.

Lawmaker Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party who has been pressing the government to release the full report, said the statement from Rudd was unacceptable.

“The statement gives absolutely no clue as to which countries foreign funding for extremism originates from – leaving the government open to further allegations of refusing to expose the role of Saudi Arabian money in terrorism in the UK,” she said.

Britain’s Henry Jackson Society think tank last week released a report which said foreign funding for Islamist extremism in Britain primarily came from governments and government-linked foundations in the Gulf, as well as Iran.

“Foremost among these has been Saudi Arabia, which since the 1960s has sponsored a multimillion dollar effort to export Wahhabi Islam across the Islamic world, including to Muslim communities in the West,” the report said.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the government should be naming and shaming “the perpetrators of vile ideologies” including “so-called allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar”.

“It seems like the government, yet again, is putting our so called friendship with Saudi Arabia above our values,” he said.

After an attack by three Islamists on London Bridge last month in which eight people were killed, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also said Britain needed to have “some difficult conversations” with its ally Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

(Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Richard Balmforth)