Terror trial ends but extremism still growing

Experts agree tackling religious extremism is the only way to prevent another Toronto 18

The final chapter in the story of the Toronto 18 terror cell closed Wednesday with convictions, but experts warn there is no end to the threat of homegrown religious extremism among Muslim youth. “There is some denial, and people are not willing to acknowledge that Muslims can cause damage to other people,” said Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, an Islamic scholar who recently denounced extremism at a conference in Toronto that attracted about 500 youths. “But the majority of people are coming around to realize there is a problem.” Community members and security experts agree that youth are being radicalized in their own homes by tapping into an online jihadi cyberworld and also behind closed doors of private prayer rooms where firebrand religious ideologues go unchallenged. And increasingly, they are travelling overseas to countries such as Somalia and Pakistan to take up arms and fight jihad...more..