Granta Event in London

Panel Discussion: The Rise of the British Jihad
Chaired by Richard Watson (BBC)
David Henshaw (Undercover Mosque)
Abdullah Anas (former mujahid)
Iftikhar Ahmed (London School of Islamics)
Thursday, 30 October
7.30pm
The Frontline Club
13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ

MI5 says that some 4,000 British Muslim extremists are a threat to national security and that another major terrorist attack is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’. The investigative journalist Richard Watson, who has been at the forefront of reporting terrorism and extremism for BBC Newsnight, presents the results of his major investigation into the rise of extremism in Britain, which has just been published by Granta.

Richard Watson is an award-winning specialist reporter covering Islamist extremism and terrorism for the BBC’s Newsnight and the author of the cover story for Granta 103: ‘The Rise of the British Jihad’. Watch Granta’s exclusive interview with him here.

David Henshaw is the executive producer of Channel 4’s Dispatches: Undercover Mosque films.

Abdullah Anas went to Afghanistan to fight with the Mujaheddin in 1983. He remained there until 1992. He was a founder of the “Office of Services”, forerunner of Al-Qaeda and knew Osama Bin Laden well. He married the daughter of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, leader of the “Afghan Arab” fighters, and became the closest friend amongst the Arabs to Ahmed Massoud, the Mujaheddin leader who became head of the Northern Alliance. Anas is on the council in exile of the Algerian political party Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), and lives in London, having gained political asylum and British citizenship.

Iftikhar Ahmed is head of the London School of Islamics.

Click here to book tickets to this event, or call +44 (0) 20 7479 8950.

Get directions to the Frontline Club.

Read more about the Frontline Club.