Goulburn Jail cancels Muslim prayer meetings as prisoners go berserk
Australia: Jailed jihadis continue terror activities while incarcerated, Jail cancels Muslim prayer meetings as prisoners explode in violence – (Geller)
PRISON officers in riot gear have used tear gas to control maximum security inmates who tore apart Goulburn Jail in a “racially fuelled” riot Âdescribed as the biggest in 10 years.
- A riot broke out at Goulburn Jail in NSW on Saturday afternoon
- Seven inmates were segregated and four were treated for injuries
- There may have been religious motivation behind the riots
- Muslim inmates were yelling ‘Allah Akbar’ wielding homemade weapons
- Correctional Services NSW deny any religious motivation
- Some prisons have banned prayers amid fears the unsupervised time is being used by inmates to plot
- Last week the nation’s biggest ever terror raids saw 2 people arrested
- 25 raids were carried out on homes in Sydney and Brisbane
Read more:Â Â DailyMailÂ
With shouts of “Allah Akbar”, prisoners armed with homemade weapons threatened guards and smashed through an internal fence at the state’s toughest jail, which was in lockdown yesterday.
The riot came as prison authorities cracked down on Muslim prayer meetings in the state’s jails, believed to be a key way Islamic extremists foment their hatred and plot their attacks. Police were called in and investigations are ongoing.
One of the guard towers over looking the prison at Goulburn’s Maximum Security Jail in southern NSW.
Tensions have been running high in the prison system as federal and NSW police step up their surveillance of suspected terrorists and any of their associates inside and outside prisons after the country’s terror alert was raised to high.
A source has revealed how the violence began in the maximum wing of the Goulburn facility about 3pm on Saturday when a number of ringleaders refused to line up for afternoon muster.
The source said the unrest had begun as a result of some privileges being requested — and denied — for a handful of inmates, but the situation quickly turned into a full-scale riot along religious lines.
Exterior view of Goulburn Jail.“They’d been knocked back something …,” the source said. “The issue wasn’t a Muslim-related issue, but it was the Muslim guys who got into it, yelling out to Allah.
“They were refusing to go into their cells. They refused to line up, then it went from there and exploded.”
Heavily-armed prison officers quelled the violent riot.The prison officers had “geared-up” as soon as they sensed trouble.
The riot did not involve convicted terrorists held in Goulburn’s Supermax, who remain under constant surveillance.
Those inmates include ÂMohamed Ali Elomar who is serving a 21-year sentence for his leadership in the 2005 ÂPendennis terror plot.
Exterior view of Goulburn Jail.He is the uncle of former boxer Mohamed Elomar, one of the Australian jihadis currently fighting with the Islamic State in Syria. Mohamed Elomar is with Khaled Sharrouf, who had been jailed along with Ali Elomar over the 2005 plot and fled overseas last year when he was released from jail.
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“Inmate unrest began about 3pm yesterday after staff informed inmates in that yard that a good behaviour privilege was being withdrawn, due to earlier verbal abuse of correctional staff,” a spokesman said.
NSW Premier Mike Baird said: “I have every confidence in Corrective Services in keeping our community safe….”
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Perhaps they were shouting hellosnackbar for bacon sandwiches?