Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, linked the practice to the government’s Prevent strategy – “a community-wide spying programme that sees mothers spying on their own children.”

“While it is shocking to even consider the abuse of children in this manner, it is not far removed from the spirit of Prevent and the ever-increasing criminalisation of innocent communities in the name of security,” Shadjareh said.

“What only remains is the question of when we will wake from this nightmare and realise that we are destroying the safety and sanity of our society as a whole.”

Read the whole piece published on The Guardian on 20 July 2018