Brighton and Hove parents targeted in anti-terror campaign

The Home Office picked the city, which has seen at least four youngsters travel to fight in the Middle East in recent years, for a pilot programme being run by the NSPCC.

The charity will put posters up in 19 GP surgeries across the city with advice written in six languages: English, Welsh, Arabic, Urdu, Somali, and Bengali.

NSPCC bosses will launch the programme today after a huge increase in the number of calls from parents worried about terrorism and radicalisation since the Paris attacks last November.

The Home Office chose Brighton along with other cities such as London, Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester and Leeds, for the pilot.

Brighton has been strongly linked with radicalisation in the last few years with three city youngsters killed fighting overseas since 2014.

Brothers Abdullah, 18, and Jaffar Deghayes, 17, from Saltdean, along with friend 19-year-old Ibrahim Kamara, of Newmarket Road, Brighton, have all been killed in Syria.

Amer, brother of Abdullah and Jaffar, is still thought to be in Syria fighting for the al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria.

It is hoped the NSPCC posters will tell parents who to call for help if they think their child is in danger of being radicalised for acts of terrorism.

The posters are intended to reach six million people a month across the trial cities. If successful, they will be rolled out to other areas of the country.

NSPCC counsellors have been trained by Home Office experts to spot the warning signs of radicalisation including how extremists can befriend vulnerable children, brain wash them with ideologies and, in the worst cases, persuade them to carry out terrorist attacks.

The counsellors will advise parents how to talk about terrorism with children and spot the warning signs.

It a child is thought to be at risk of harm, counsellors will alert the authorities using the same procedures for other safety concerns.

An NSPCC spokesman said: "We have seen a wave of terrorist attacks and both parents and children tell us how frightened they are by what is happening. So it is vital that we are here for parents when they need our support and are able to provide them with non-judgemental advice.

"When young people are groomed for extremist purposes and encouraged to commit acts that could hurt themselves or others, then it becomes abuse. That’s why we’ve trained our counsellors to cope with this fresh danger to young people."

THIS IS A REMINDER THE FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER

BRIGHTON is known for its piers, pebbly beach and liberal attitude.

But in the last few year’s it has also acquired a the rather unwanted tag as a centre of radicalisation, with three of the city’s sons killed fighting in the Middle East.

TV documentaries have been made, countless articles written and studies commissioned to discover why.

Now NSPCC bosses have entered the fray, with the charity placing posters in doctors’ surgeries to help parents who think their children may be at risk of being radicalised.

It is astonishing to think that our liberal and free-thinking seaside city has become such a place where charities have to step in to warn about children at risk of being turned into terrorists.

How on earth did it come to this?

The name most identify with radicalisation in Brighton and Hove is Deghayes.

The Saltdean family has featured in countless articles in this newspaper and others over the years, starting with Libyan-born Omar Deghayes.

Shortly after Nine/9/11 he was arrested in Pakistan and taken to the then recently constructed Guantanamo Bay, suspected of being an enemy combatant.

While being held at the US-manned prison he claims guards beat him and starved him.

Omar Mr Deghayes also claims a guard gouged his eyes, which has left him permanently blind in his right eye.

In August 2007 the Government requested his release, he was not charged and in the December of that year he was freed and flew back to his family in Saltdean.

Among those who lived in the town at the time were his brother Abubaker Deghayes and his sons Abdullah, Jaffar and Amer.

On the surface the Deghayes boys had an upbringing like thousands of others across the city.

They went to the beach, enjoyed their football and even wrote music together.

There was little hint as to what would happen to the trio in the coming years.

The boys however spoke of their uncle Omar’s mistreatment at Guantanamo as an influence on their world views, with Amer telling a national newspaper: “The war on terror was obviously a war on Muslims, the Islamic way of life.”

The Deghayes family disappeared from the spotlight for a number of years until April 2014, when it was reported that Abdullah had been killed while fighting in war-torn Syria.

Days later his father, Abubaker, revealed his other two sons were also in the country and pleaded with them to return.

Meanwhile the authorities launched an investigation to discover the extent of radicalisation in the city.

Brighton and Hove City Council also appointed a special anti-terrorism co-ordinator to find out how and why young people in the city were being radicalised.

In September 2014 it was revealed 19-year-old Ibrahim Kamara, of Newmarket Road, Brighton, had been killed by an American drone while he was in Syria.

It was later revealed that Kamara, who had been fighting with the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, was a close friend of Amer.

Days later the Deghayes family was back in the news as it was confirmed 17-year-old Jaffar had was also been killed in Syria, while leaving Amer remained alive.

His father again pleaded for him to return but he refused, stating that he would not fly back to Saltdean until all Muslim lands had been liberated.

In an interview with The Argus he said jihad was “not for tasters” adding: “It’s a commitment. Not until all Muslim lands are liberated from infidels ruling and is ruled by Islam then I can think about it.”

Earlier this year, a report into the radicalisation of young people in Brighton was leaked to the press.

It stated that in 2014, 28 young people from the city were thought to be aspiring jihadists who had plotted to go to Syria and join Islamic State or related groups.

Among that number were said to be five teenage girls who had converted to Islam.

The report also warned of a possible Lee Rigby-style knife or gun attack on members of the public on the streets of Brighton.

Local authorities disputed many of the leaked details. Other details were said to be dated and police said that while there had been concerns about a group of vulnerable youngsters there had been success in turning their lives around.

Since that leaked report, there has been little noise about radicalisation in Brighton.

Amer is believed to still be fighting with the al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria and as far as we are aware nobody else from the city has travelled to the Middle East to take up arms.

But the NSPCC’s poster campaign is a reminder that the fight against radicalisation is far from over.

THE DANGER SIGNS TO LOOK OUT FOR 

TALK to us before a feeling becomes a problem.

That is the message from the NSPCC featured in several different languages on a poster.

As part of a pilot scheme, the message will be displayed in doctor surgeries around Brighton.

It urges parents to contact the NSPCC if they are worried about a child.

The charity will advise parents on signs which could suggest that a child has been radicalised.

These include:

• Children isolating themselves from family and friends

• Talking as if from a scripted speech

• Becoming disrespectful or asking inappropriate questions

• Increased levels of anger

Call the NSPCC anonymously for free, 24 hours a day on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.