Britain has as many as 2 million Muslims, many of them immigrants or descendants of immigrants, from countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Turkey. A government report said working-age people from ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be unemployed as the overall population. Ahmed and Brighton-area imam Abduljalil Sajid believe those hardships make Muslim youths vulnerable to recruitment by groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. They also said Hizb ut-Tahrir is thriving in England by capitalizing on widespread opposition among Britons, including its Muslim minority, to the Iraq war. In addition, Britain's lenient asylum laws and strong free-speech protections have long made it a center for Islamic activist groups and Arab publications. Years ago, many of Osama bin Laden's fatwas, or religious edicts, were first publicized in London, earning it the nickname Londonistan. There are no reliable figures on the number of Muslims who have been recruited by radical groups in Britain. But in April, two young British Muslims allegedly conducted a suicide bombing at a bar in Tel Aviv, Israel, that killed three customers and wounded 50.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is trying to root out the extremists. Last week, it announced plans to introduce national identity cards for the first time since World War II. British authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects, sometimes in widespread raids. Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Muslim cleric and famous London street preacher, was jailed and will be tried for allegedly urging followers to kill non-Muslims.