LONDON // Britain’s Prince Charles said the numbers of vulnerable young Muslims being radicalised by “crazy stuff” on the internet was “frightening”.
In a BBC radio interview broadcast on Sunday, the Prince of Wales also voiced concern about Christians fleeing the Middle East in droves, saying the situation might end with very few left in the cradle of the religion.
Prince Charles said radicalisation was “one of the greatest worries” and the issue could not be simply “swept under the carpet”.
“It’s the extent which this is happening is the alarming part,” he said.
The interview came as the prince embarked on a six-day tour of the Middle East, beginning in Jordan on Saturday. He will also visit the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
On Sunday, Prince Charles, 66, toured a sprawling Syrian refugee camp in Jordan and chatted with residents, while sampling tea and walking down the main road.
The heir to the throne was accompanied by Britain’s international development minister, Justine Greening, who said her country will give an additional $150 million (Dh550m) to help displaced Syrians and their host communities in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.
Speaking of “the values we hold dear” during the broadcast interview, Prince Charles said: “You’d think that the people who have come here, born here, go to school here would abide by those values and outlooks.
“But, the frightening part is that people can be so radicalised either through contact with somebody else or through the internet and the extraordinary amount of crazy stuff which is on the internet.”
Prince Charles Charles said the numbers of Christians in the Middle East was going “dramatically down”, with people “intimidated to a degree you can’t believe” where the ISI militant group has taken control in northern Iraq.
“There is a danger that there is going to be very, very few left,” he said.
* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
