Former prison governor Ian Acheson said Abedi’s past showed he posed such a danger he should have been held under tighter security conditions than the ones at the separation unit. Mr Acheson also warned that the assault “moves us closer to the day when a prison officer will be murdered on duty by a terrorist”, adding that it is only a matter of time. The Justice Secretary Ms Mahmood said at the weekend: “I am appalled by the attack of three brave officers.”

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: How do you break the rule of law inside our jails? You could do worse than try to murder a prison officer on duty, which by all accounts nearly came to pass yesterday. The terrorist Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, reportedly came within seconds of doing so in a frenzied attack on prison officers in the separation unit of HMP Frankland. Three were sent to hospital, seriously injured by a combination of stab wounds and burns from hot oil. I know a thing or two about separation units. I called for their creation when I did an independent review of Islamist extremism in our prisons, as ordered by the editor of this magazine, who was then Justice Secretary. I made almost 70 recommendations to fix serious and systemic failings in the prison service when it came to dealing with the cancer of violent extremism.

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: The last time I visited HMP Frankland, where three prison officers were reportedly attacked and seriously injured by a terrorist yesterday, was in 2015. Then, I had been tasked by the government to investigate Islamist extremism in the prison system. The best way of knowing what is happening on the front line, far from the HQ bureaucrats’ reach, is to go there. And so I visited every high-security prison holding extremists – including Frankland, just outside Durham – to ask staff how they kept safe and what more they needed. I can still remember the chilling ordinariness of men and women in uniform explaining how they worked to avoid being taken hostage and murdered by dangerous ideologues who viewed them as available targets for jihad. One officer said that the only thing that kept him safe each day was not his employer but “sheer blind luck”.

ARD Tagesschau podcast on Active Clubs with Alexander Ritzmann
Young men meet in trendy sports clubs for fitness training and boxing or practise jiu-jitsu martial arts. According to experts, the so-called "active clubs" are primarily about fun and camaraderie, while also introducing them to right-wing ideologies of violence. Apparently, well-known figures from the right-wing extremist scene are behind this. In this 11KM episode, SWR reporter Florian Barth talks about the new phenomenon of "Active Clubs", in which right-wing activists apparently train for street fighting and a "system overthrow", how right-wing networks are organized and recruited throughout Germany and how security authorities are looking at them.
 

Dr Hans-Jacob Schindler on Russian interference in terrorist attacks in Germany about the need to regulate social media platforms in a more strict way, requiring them to pro-actively cooperate with law enforcement in Europe (starts 19.39).

Imam Abdullah S. has not committed any crimes to date. In the YouTube video, he also denies ever having advocated violence. However, Hans-Jakob Schindler of the research organization "Counter Extremism Project" expresses understanding for the Free State's harsh approach: The free democratic basic order could also be endangered "by targeted actions without direct calls for violence against the free democratic basic order."

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: Riots are, thankfully, relatively rare in the UK. This is in large part thanks to the deterrent effect of the British justice system’s quick and harsh sentencing for rioters. Before last August, the last widespread social disorder we had in this country was in 2011. Then, disturbances took root across the UK, sparked by the killing of Mark Duggan, a young black man who was shot by police. The state response to this unrest through the courts was punitive. Over 2,000 people were convicted. No comparable insurrection happened for another 13 years.

"A wide-ranging investigation has been opened into a terror attack that took place on May 31, 2024, in Mannheim, Germany. Anecdotal evidence suggests the attacker may have had contact with operatives inside Russia.

In this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green,” Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, says other terror events may be looked into as well."

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler spoke with RTL Nachtjournal about the closure of schools in the western German city of Duisburg following right-wing extremist threats.

CEP Nonresident Fellow Ari Heistein writes: "Despite rumors of high-level assassinations and the destruction of secret facilities, it is too early to declare the American campaign in Yemen a success. Still, there is reason to believe the Houthis have suffered a significant setback."