27 minutes agoDaldikalism of prisoners in Kosovo prisons, a difficult battle
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)Through a strategy to prevent violent extremism and radicalism leading to terrorism, the ministry, the government and the Islamic Community of Kosovo are trying to control religious literature that enters prisons. However, officials say that the doordialism of prisoners remains a difficult battle. Using mosque lectures and controlling religious literature, the Community [...]
Using glass lectures and controlling religious literature, the Islamic Community through its department of women and young people is leading a long-term awareness campaign against religious radicalism.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Islamic Community is trying to do a particularly thorough search of literature that is being introduced into prisons among persons accused of various acts of extremism, religious hatred, and other elements.
Fitim Flugaj, from the Islamic Community of Kosovo, tells Radio Kosovo that at the heart of the fight against religious radicalism is cleaning literature in prisons.
He said that given the Ministry of Justice's request, no material of religious restraint can enter prisons without the approval of the Islamic Community.
We immediately sent enough literature to prisons and enriched the prison libraries. Any literature coming for prisons is first controlled and sealed by the Islamic Community”, Flugaj said.
Officials in Kosovo are implementing a strategy of reintegration of persons convicted of various criminal acts that connect with religious extremism and joining terrorist groups outside Kosovo. However, according to authorities working in this area of doordating prisoners, a difficult process remains.
Bekim Gashi, leader of the Justice Intelligence Unit at the Kosovo Correcting Service, says that in the last three years 56 former prisoners for various acts of extremism and terrorism have gone through rehabilitation programmes.
No one has returned as recipiist. We have many challenges and we need help. I had to say that we have no strategy on how to break radicalism in prisoners”, Ggashi said.
The Islamic Community of Kosovo insists that one of the most efficient tools in the fight against religious extremism is the inclusion of religious education as subjects in schools, stressing that this enables control over literature.
However, the draft law on regulating the judiciary of communities does not include religious education in schools, and for more than a decade the country's parliament has failed to adopt this bill, which offers a framework that gives religious communities legal status.
