"I was a UK-born aspiring Islamist terrorist who wanted to blow up Canary Wharf - this is how I grew to love my country..."

An interview with the deradicalised Sohail Ahmed that could save thousands of lives

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I used to live on the border of the City of London and Whitechapel, East London – increasingly two different worlds colliding.

The local mosques have become a breeding ground for Islamist extremists, with Shamima Begum being the highest profile case of a London-born, western-educated Brit turned jihadi for ISIS.

But the radicalisation goes on – day by day, week by week, year by year, with no realistic plan by the government or authorities to stop the creation of homegrown terrorists.

That’s why I believe Sohail Ahmed is one of the most important men in the UK today.

He was born in the UK to parents who had emigrated from Kashmir.

He had all the benefits of growing up in cosmopolitan London and attending a secular western school.

On the surface, he was an example of multiculturalism succeeding.

But behind-the-scenes, at home and in East London mosques from the age of six, Sohail was being radicalised.

Despite knowing he was a gay man and being told any gay man should be thrown off the top of buildings to their death, Sohail planned a lone wolf terrorist attack on Canary Wharf using an IED.

He was prepared to die for an ideology that hated who he was.

The story of how he deradicalised is disturbing and eye opening, but we MUST listen to him. And we must throw money at his ideas.

Because if we keep turning a blind eye to what is REALLY going on in some so-called “communities” in our biggest cities, with Sharia law being introduced by the back door, young British-born Muslim men WILL commit more of these terrorist atrocities.

NO EVIDENCE

Sohail believes that, as a former extremist, he can pick up on “subtle behavioural patterns” that point to a young Brit being radicalised.

“Islamists tend to keep to their own and are thus (virtually) self-contained and closed as a social group. As a result, they develop specific behaviours, mannerisms, arguments, speech, lexicon, etc that are mirrored in the group, and therefore by way of social contagion, they exhibit similar patterns of behaviour,” he explains. “That becomes their Achilles heel, as those patterns can be identified, but unfortunately, in my limited experience, those involved, from politicians to deradicalisation experts, are not fully aware of these subtle patterns. Yes, they can more or less pick up on the hard Islamists, but when it comes to the more deceptive soft Islamists, they often can't pick them out from the moderates.”

Sohail says the authorities must start paying “special attention” to these soft Islamists, but he also calls on family members to take a more active role, stressing the importance of not abandoning a loved one.

While the problems feel overwhelm, Sohail genuinely believes the division facing the UK can be resolved through systematic mismanagement of multicultural integration policies.

On Outspoken today, which you can watch here, I speak to Sohail in detail about his extraordinary, terrifying and heartbreaking story to try and ensure we can stop other young Brits being radicalised.

TAUGHT THAT GAY MEN SHOULD BE MURDERED

When 9/11 happened when I was around eight, I also figured out that I was gay so I was an extremist, pretty much a jihadist by belief as a child but also at the same time I was gay. And I remember precisely that day when I heard in the mosque what the punishment for homosexuality was in my form of Islam. I was told if anyone is gay, you throw them off from the highest place, be it a mountain or a roof. You either stone them to death or you throw them off the roof and then stone them to death, just to ensure that the job's done. I remember a chill going down my spine and thinking, 'Oh my God, my life's in danger.'

YOUNG LONDONERS ARE TOLD STORIES ABOUT 72 VIRGINS IN MOSQUES

Among those that support terrorism, they believe that if you die during the act of committing an act of terror, you die a martyr. And essentially, they believe that you go straight to heaven. If you ever die as a martyr, all of your sins get wiped. And it's just a one-way ticket to heaven. And some of the beliefs do include like 72 virgins and strange things like that. I was taught that. As a seven/eight-year-old, I wanted to die a martyr in war, in holy war. That's the level to which I had been indoctrinated.

TRICKED A TEACHER WHO SAW HE WAS BEING RADICALISED

We sat down and the first thing she asked was, 'If Britain were attacked tomorrow, would you fight for your country?' And I immediately realised what was happening, and I gave a very manipulative kind of snaky answer whichwas, 'Well, if I if I were in danger, I would protect myself and my family.'

PLANNED TERRORIST ATTACK ON CANARY WHARF

I expected myself to die anyway. And the plan was to build an IED and remotely detonate it.

BUT HE EVENTUALLY ABORTED THE PLAN AND REALISED THERE WAS ANOTHER CHOICE

It was that fear of actually fully questioning and going ahead with this, and I was like, 'Oh my god, I'm going to die; I'm going to die; I'm going to die; I'm going to die.' These doubts and facing them head on. What if I'd made the wrong decision? What if I stopped believing in my form of Islam or stopped believing in Islam altogether and if it was the wrong decision I’d burn in hell forever. It was that fear of hell that kept me in but one day it just became too much for me after about five years. It was around 2021 and by this point I grew a fully functioning brain.

EXORCISED BY PARENTS WHEN THEY FOUND OUT HE WAS GAY

My dad said: ‘The only way I will agree for you to stay in this house is if you agree to be exorcised, as in get the demons exorcised out of you.’ And unfortunately, given that I had nowhere to go, I agreed to the exorcisms in order to have a roof over my head.

FAMILY TIES WERE ALL CUT AND HE FINALLY FEELS BRITISH

When I was Muslim, I was very strongly Muslim. I felt that that was my very identity. I didn't feel British. It was just very much just a strong Islamic identity. It was like there was a country called Islam almost. But when I deradicalised, I slowly began to feel more and more British. And I began to feel more and more patriotic. The British identity allowed me to kind of expand and move out of the extremist circle.

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