BBC Debate: Extreme Islamist Violence - Why Would Young Brits Want To Get Involved?

<em>Ibrahim Mohamoud, Communications Officer at CAGE, will be speaking at the Labour Party Fringe in an event organised by the BBC World Service to comment on the issue of British foreign fighters. </em> <div></div> <div style="text-align: center;"></div> Hundreds of people from the UK are believed to have travelled to support or fight for jihadist organisations in Syria and Iraq since the conflict in Syria began. Among them are young people with a future ahead of them. So why are these young people leaving a peaceful, democratic country for war zones and the harsh way of life represented by so called Islamic State in Syria or Al Shabaab in Somalia? Why are straight-A students giving up their studies to join the jihad, or parents taking their young children to live under IS in Syria? And what can be done to mitigate the lure of radical jihadism for these young people? <div></div> Presented by Owen Bennett Jones and Nkem Ifejika, these issues will be debated at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton with an invited audience and panellists. This will include British experts, politicians and community voices, including chairman of the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz. <div></div> The event will be <strong><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/39/bbc-africa-debate-extreme-islamist-violence">broadcast</a> </strong>on the BBC World Service, Friday 2 October 8.00pm-9.00pm.