Islamist Harris Farooqi and his bride

Harris Farooqi from Manchester, England, was once accused of terrorist activities and held by authorities.

Farooqi spoke with a BBC reporter after Islamist suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew up 22 children and adults at a Monday night concert.

Harris Farooqi: What is an extremist? What is a sign of extremism? From my case when I was accused of being a terrorist it was said that extremism was practicing your faith. We were told that if you’re praying five times a day that’s the first step of extremism… Look, no one agrees with extremism or terrorism in any form, but when you’re discriminating against a set of people within a community that lived in peace for many years, I think that’s extreme and racist and terrorism itself.