DAILY MAIL: Muslim sex offenders are asking to be let off a prison treatment programme on religious grounds.
Rapists, paedophiles and other dangerous attackers are expected to discuss their crimes with other inmates as a condition of release.
But Muslim prisoners complain that criminals should not have to talk about their offences - a "legitimate Islamic position", according to Ahtsham Ali, the Prison Service's Muslim adviser.
One thousand inmates were put on the Sex Offender Treatment Programme last year with places usually reserved for the most dangerous attackers.
Failure to complete the course can weigh against an offender at parole hearings.
The possibility of an exemption for Muslims came to light in a letter from an unnamed inmate to Inside Time, a newspaper for prisoners.
The convict said: "I have always insisted that it was against Islamic teachings to discuss your offence to anyone, let alone act it out within a peer group."
Experts said ministers, who have launched a review of the issue, could face a legal challenge from Muslims kept longer in prison because they had not undergone the treatment programme. Muslim Sex Offenders Could Opt Out of Treatment Programme 'Because It's against Their Faith' >>> By James Slack
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