- Violent Islamists are social losers – Dagsavisen

– We have registered 137 individuals. A clear majority are social losers. They score high on criminal record with substance abuse and violence history. Many people have little education, have dropped out of school. They have occasional jobs or no job. There is little evidence they are very strong religious interested, but they skip lightly religious ideology and willingness to use violence is there. Many are very young and impressionable.

 
 

That said Jon Fitje Hoffmann, chief analyst in PST during an open hearing on the prevention of extremism in Parliament yesterday. Fitje Hoffmann was one of three speakers.

 
 

The reason for the hearing is the last year terrorist attacks which more than ever focused on religious Islamism.

 
 

The recruitment stagnated

 
 

– In Norway recruitment to extremist Islam clearly stagnated. What it is due, we do not know completely. Police and volunteers have worked well prevention. Several are punished and sentenced, and some remain in detention. And many have been killed in Syria, said Hoffmann with the proviso that there may be unrecorded.

 
 

– If this is a trend that continues we know non- Earlier recruitment has gone in waves with comrades who have traveled together as foreign fighters. Many of those who have raised are very young and impressionable.

 
 

Hoffmann praised Muslim communities who come into contact with young people at risk, to discuss and motivate them to take responsibility for their actions, exercising source criticism and think himself.

 
 

Jon Fitje Hoffmann believes there are few strong ideological leading figures in this environment in Norway. He is also not very concerned about the foreign fighters who have come back.

 
 

– They pose no imminent danger as of now. Many who want to home, do not travel, he says to Dagsavisen.

 
 

No hesitation to enter

 
 

– There are no areas where we hesitate to enter, nor in the religious communities. There are vanishingly few Islamists that worries us, said Vegar Martinsen who leads dialogue group in the organized crime division of the Oslo police.

 
 

Preventive units of the Oslo police are specialized against radicalization and extremism. They worked with 110 adults and children in 2015.

 
 

– Only two of them tried to travel as foreign fighters, said Vegar Martinsen.

 
 

His colleague, senior adviser Ingjerd Hansen, said that it is absolutely essential that minority communities in Norway have confidence in the police and judiciary.

 
 

– We must meet them with professionalism in control of situations, Hansen said.

 
 

– Working against domestic violence is perhaps the most important thing we are doing to prevent violence and extremism. The same applies where we settle newly arrived refugees. It can be crucial in this process, said Hansen.