Pictured: Child, 12, pictured waving a 'jihadi' flag during a protest outside Saudi Arabian embassy in London

• Girl joined a rally held by supporters of preacher Anjem Choudary last week
• She was joined by even younger protesters who were no older than six
• The flag features the ‘Shahadah’ – a declaration that Allah is the only god
• When the Shahadah is depicted on a black background it is associated with extremist causes in both Egypt and Syria
• Counter-extremism think tank describes pictures of the girl as ‘disturbing’
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A child thought to be no older than 12 has been pictured waving a ‘jihadi’ flag during a protest outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in London.

The image has shocked both MPs and counter-terrorism campaigners as the girl joined a rally held by supporters of the extremist preacher Anjem Choudary last week to highlight the Middle Eastern country’s ‘crimes’.

She appeared outside the embassy in central London’s Charles Street on Friday – with other even younger protesters some of whom appeared to be no older than five or six.

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Rally: This child (left), thought to be no older than 12 has been pictured waving a black 'jihadi' flag during a protest outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in London

The flag the girl waved features the ‘Shahadah’ – a declaration that Allah is the only god – which is usually shown on a green background for the Saudi Arabian flag.

But when the Shahadah is depicted on a black background it is associated with extremist causes in both Egypt and Syria – and in recent times it has been identified with Islamist terrorist groups including Al Qaeda.

 

In the past such black Shahadah flags have been seen as backdrops for videos recorded by suicide bombers.

Some weeks ago London Mayor Boris Johnson called for children subjected to radicalisation to be taken into care to protect them from parents with extremist views.

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Youngsters: Some even younger protesters, who appeared to be no older than five or six, were also at the rally in London

Ghaffar Hussain, of the counter-extremism think tank the Quilliam Foundation, described the pictures of the little girl at the protest as ‘disturbing’ and added: ‘There is a very real issue with children being radicalised and brought along to these demonstrations to be given hate messages. It’s something that needs to be tackled.

 Children are being normalised into extremism. It’s very dangerous.’

Meanwhile Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, added: ‘Social services and police need to be very vigilant to make sure that children are not being radicalised and subjected to a form of dangerous psychological abuse.

‘Parents should take care not to allow their children to be involved in supporting in any way the activities of Al Qaeda.

‘ For adults this is a matter of choice. For those too young to understand this could be the first step on the road to radicalisation.’

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Cause: The girl had joined a rally held by supporters of the extremist preacher Anjem Choudary (pictured) last week to highlight the Middle Eastern country's 'crimes'

Yesterday afternoon Anjem Choudary took to Twitter to berate both Mr Vaz and the Quilliam Foundation as he wrote: ‘ Now Keith Vaz and the Quilliam Foundation want to take our children away because they carry the Shahadah flag. 

Maybe they should embrace Islam.’

Mr Choudary added: ‘ There has been controversy over these flags but they have been around since the time of Muhammad himself and are loved, cherished and belong to every single Muslim.

‘Black or white flags carrying this statement have always been carried in battles between Muslims and non-Muslims to distinguish the two camps of Islam and Kufr ( non-Islam).’

Mizanur Rahman, a spokesman for the Muslim Prisoners campaign group which organised last week’s demonstration, added: ‘There is nothing controversial about inviting famous speakers or flying the traditional Islamic flag.

‘What is controversial is the crimes against Islam and Muslims in the UK and abroad.’

London Assembly member Murad Quresh maintained that the flag was used by ‘jihadis’ and added : ‘It’s the black rather than green colour that makes it distinctive .

‘It should be of huge concern that young children are coming under the influence of Anjem Choudary and his mob.’