By Rageh Omar
Lost to their community and lost to their faith, young Somali men of London are turning to ever more violent forms of street crime.
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| Victims of their own alienation | |
But it was only when 18-year-old Somali Mahir Osman was murdered in Camden by a 30-strong Somali gang in January 2006, did Somali clan elders realise that things had spiralled beyond their control.
The police got involved and the outcome was three gang members sentenced to life imprisonment, with five others sentenced to lesser jail terms. Somalis today form the largest ethnic group among young offenders incarcerated in the notorious Feltham Young Offender Institution south of London.
In this powerful authored documentary, Rageh Omaar pursues the stories of three recent murders – in Woolwich, Camden and Southall - to try to understand why this new generation of young Somali men are underachieving in education - and what makes them turn on each other.
He speaks to Mahir Osman’s mother, Asha, who believes that the boys struggle because they don't identify with any culture. "They haven’t got Somali culture, they haven't got English culture. They don’t know what they're doing. Really, they don't know. They're a lost generation."
Rageh also goes on the airwaves at a local Muslim radio station to appeal for insight.
