Experts say West can't stop Web radicalisation

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - From behind a computer keyboard at his London home, student Younes Tsouli used the Internet to spread al Qaeda propaganda, recruit suicide bombers and promote Web sites that encouraged the killing of non-Muslims.

The Moroccan-born student and two accomplices, one of whom he had never met in person, went on to become the first to be jailed in Britain for inciting terrorism over the Internet.

In September, a Scottish student described as a "wannabe suicide bomber" was imprisoned for eight years for owning terrorism material and distributing it via Web sites.

The two cases are examples of what Western authorities believe is the dangerous and growing role the Internet plays in spreading extremist propaganda and recruiting sympathisers to Islamist militant causes.

But can the West censor radical Web sites and, indeed, is it morally right to do so?

The perceived threat has prompted much talk from governments of the need for action. On Tuesday, the European Commission urged the EU's 27 states to crack down on militant sites.

"The Internet serves ... as one of the principal boosters of the processes of radicalisation and recruitment and also serves as a source of information on terrorist means and methods, thus functioning as a virtual training camp," the Commission's proposal said.

New York's police chief described the Internet as "the new Afghanistan" in August. That echoed the views of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who said last year potential recruits no longer needed to travel to al Qaeda camps.