Canadian Prisons and Venomous Islamist Values

"There would be a general atmosphere of jovial camaraderie among themselves and the non-Muslim. The normally pleasant atmosphere associated with Muslims gathering for prayers was absent. Inmates on the same range who came to see me expressed fear of him. [About one third] were not Muslims but believed they dare not refuse to attend Friday prayers. They had no choice. He [Mohammad Shafia] was an angry little man."
"[One, a Christian] felt so intimidated by Shafia and some of his lieutenants that he chose to give up his relative freedom of movement on the range and in the general population for a much more restricted life on a social isolation range. He advised me that confinement was worth it to avoid the hassle of dealing with 'the Muslims'."
"This form of intimidation is something one finds routinely with zealot extremists. In other circumstances it's called bullying."
"There wasn't a gang yet of radical Muslims out to conquer the whole prison population."
"Many of them expressed views that, although all prisoners believe they're innocent, these people [Muslims sentenced to prison terms for crimes] really did believe that their behaviours were acceptable ... like terminating someone's life."
Robert Groves, Ottawa psychologist

Mohammad Shafia, his wife, Tooba Yahya and their son, Hamed, were convicted in 2012 of the murders of the couple's three daughters and Shafia's first wife. A national security committee was told Tuesday that Mohammad Shafia intimidated inmates into attending prayers.

Mr. Groves conducted psychological counselling at Kingston prison before it was closed down. And he was testifying at a special Senate hearing on prison conditions and in specific the interaction between prisoners who are Muslim, with respect to radicalization. Correctional Service of Canada conducted research whose findings concluded that federal prisons do not act as hotbeds of radical extremism that they are popularly felt to be.

According to the research released last week, radicalized offenders are held to be likely to exhibit moderate-to-high potential for rejoining society. This information resulted from a multi-year collaboration between the prison service and Defence Research and Development Canada, whose purpose was to develop a basis whereby jailed extremists could be assessed and their effects on others 'managed'.

"Though concern over the spread of violent ideologies has been expressed, this concern is supported by limited qualitative, anecdotal evidence", read the report in part. Although that conclusion hardly squares with what the psychologist spoke of, namely that Muslims believe their behaviours, such as killing, were 'acceptable'. Interpreted, that could only relate to Koranic or cultural injunctions to kill those who bring shame to family honour, and those who impugn or mock Islam or the Prophet Mohammad.

Mohammad Shafia, whose intimidating behaviour was discussed by the psychologist, is a typical Islamist fanatic. In prison he assigned himself the task of a mullah when the Muslim prison chaplain was absent for Friday prayers. Mr. Shafia, a wealthy Afghan living in Montreal who brought his family to Canada in 2007, plotted and committed the 'honour' murder of his three daughters and his first wife with the aid of his then-21-year-old son in 2009, and his second wife, mother of the three girls.

He was incensed that Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were forsaking Islamic Sharia rules of modestly withdrawn conduct, and disobeying his instructions not to be familiar with  young men. This polygamist felt that his first wife, childless and taking the second wife's children under her loving wing, had a deleterious effect on the behaviour of the girls, and decided that all four must die to restore family honour.

And it was this man, sentenced to life in prison, as was his son and his second wife, who went about sanctimoniously conducting religious services for the Muslim population in the prison, reflecting his version of radicalized Islam and the patriarchal, misogynist culture of his native country. And his pathological brand of zealotry matching death with filial disobedience as an expression of Islamic Sharia, would not represent Islamist radicalization of the most venomous order?