WS MoreOrLess: Are 95% of Terrorism Victims Muslim?
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2015
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the wake of the Paris killings, an imam in Paris told the BBC that most terrorism victims around the world are Muslim. Is that true? Plus: The death toll of the Boko Haram attack in Baga, Nigeria. This programme was first broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the short edition of More or Less. |
| 0:02.0 | First broadcast on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.0 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
| 0:09.0 | The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use |
| 0:13.0 | go to BBCWorldService.com slash podcasts. |
| 0:19.0 | You're listening to More or Less on the BBC World Service |
| 0:23.0 | and I'm Tim Harford. |
| 0:25.0 | Loyal listener Mark has been in touch with a question. |
| 0:28.0 | After the Charlie Hebdo shooting, I heard an imam interviewed on the World Service. |
| 0:33.0 | One of the things that struck me was that he said that. |
| 0:36.0 | 95% of victims of terrorism are Muslims, unfortunately. |
| 0:39.0 | Is this the sort of statistic that you might be interested in investigating? |
| 0:43.0 | Well it's his Mark and thank you. |
| 0:46.0 | We started to look to find out where this number comes from. |
| 0:49.0 | A Ruth is our producer. |
| 0:51.0 | Ruth, you found it in a US government document. |
| 0:54.0 | Yes, a report from the National Counterterrorism Centre published in 2011. |
| 0:59.0 | And it said that in cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, |
| 1:05.0 | Muslims suffered between 82 and 97% of terrorism related fatalities over the past five years. |
| 1:12.0 | So the imam in Paris wasn't far off then? |
| 1:14.0 | Well the problem is that qualifier. |
| 1:17.0 | In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, |
... |
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