A FORMER extremist has lodged a complaint with the UK police accusing his parents of radicalising him as a child, according to a media report.
The Britain-born Pakistani-origin man has alleged that his parents began "radicalising" him from the age of five after falling under the influence of a fundamentalist branch of Islam known as Salafism.
“They taught me to hate this country and the West, and not make friends with non-Muslims,’ he was quoted as saying in the MailOnline. “‘They told me there is a war going on with Islam and I have to train and be ready to fight this country.”
The former radical has also claimed of suffering physical and mental abuse at the hands of his parents, adding that his siblings were similarly radicalised while growing up on a London council estate. He had allegedly attended study sessions led by Al Qaeda preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen.
The complaint was registered about two weeks ago. The man is since being interviewed by counter-terrorism officers, after which he will soon be moved to a safe house before his parents are interviewed under caution.
The case could lead to the first prosecution of its kind in Britain. Experts, however, feel that current legislation may not allow charges to be brought in this case since there is no law that makes it a criminal offence for parents to radicalise their offspring.
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