Srđan Puhalo presented the publication "Salafis in BiH 2"

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Psychologist from Banja Luka Srđan Puhalo presented the psychological study „Salafis in BiH 2“ at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo.

This is a continuation of Puhalo’s earlier research on Salafis in BiH. In the second part of the publication, the author presents new research on „who Salafis are“, „how others see them“, and „how they are reported on“.

For the needs of the publication, Puhalo also interviewed and surveyed more than 300 people in several BiH cities who consider themselves Salafis, and he had the opportunity to speak with seven returnees from the Syrian battlefield who are currently serving prison sentences for going to foreign battlefields.

The publication discusses how Salafis view the situation in BiH society, when they first encountered Islam, their views on democracy, the situation among Muslims in the world...

Srđan Puhalo emphasized that it is necessary to distinguish between the terms radicalism and extremism, which are very often confused in our country, especially in the BiH media.

- Radicalism represents advocating certain views from which one does not deviate. This does not have to be only in religion; there are radical punks who do not accept or listen to any other type of music than punk, which in itself is not bad. Extremism represents the endeavor of individuals to impose their life views through violence, and that already represents a problem – stated Puhalo.

He pointed out that media reports about radicalization occurring in prisons are not accurate at all, because they are in a rigid prison regime and almost have no contact with each other, so it is not possible to reach a situation where someone becomes radicalized.

On the other hand, Puhalo also points out that de-radicalization of prisoners cannot occur in prisons either, because, according to what the prisoners told him, no one in prisons is doing anything on that front with them.