Mouloud: No, that’s just the thing. They gave me a map of one mile square and said “We trust you not to go over the boundary.” So they couldn’t physically know if I were to breach the order in where I was allowed to go, as it costs them tons of money to issue everyone with a GPS tag.

Al-Istiqamah: Who is given one?

Mouloud: Paedophiles are given them to prevent them from approaching schools, so they can track exactly where they are.

Al-Istiqamah: You were considered a terror suspect, but you basically got the cheaper equipment?

Mouloud: [Laughs] Absolutely; the cheaper, unreliable equipment.

Al-Istiqamah: You fled Algeria to avoid national service. Is that correct?

Mouloud: That’s right. In 1997, Algeria was going through a civil war. A lot of my neighbours and friends had done national service and come back with physical or psychological damage. Some went mad or were severely depressed. Some refused to speak about, but others would. You know, growing up together, they would mention certain things to us. They had killed people or abused them whilst in the army. Of course, that is what happens in an army. They would send people in the middle of nowhere and without any backup and they would shoot anything that moves, in case you get shot first.

Al-Istiqamah: You were labelled as a terror suspect, but even before coming to the UK, you turned down what is in effect free military training?

Mouloud: Exactly! I postponed it twice due to being a student, and then I left Algeria. I went to Italy on a visa and then crossed over to London.

Al-Istiqamah: Do you have plans to go back to Algeria?

Mouloud: I can’t really say. I’m not quite sure at the moment.

Al-Istiqamah: I wanted to ask you about the psychological effects of a control order. How is it compared to being incarcerated in Belmarsh or Long Lartin, which are two of the eight high security prisons in the UK?

Mouloud: It’s like this: when you are in prison, you’re looked up like everyone else. You don’t see the outside world. You enter another world. Your freedom is taken away and everyone is in the same boat. Even the guards, they are locked up as well. They too are scared of being attacked at any moment. We have a saying that in prison, everyday is a Sunday. It’s not as bad as you might have seen on TV in American movies, but still, you are looked up with murderers and rapists. You have to watch your back 24-7 and expect anything at anytime. Well, thank God that we weren’t allowed out of our cells all day, so we only had to watch our backs for an hour a day, four times a week. [Laughs] So you can deal with that, no problem.

Al-Istiqamah: And when under a control order?

Mouloud: It’s a living nightmare and I would say that being under a control order is worse than being in prison, as you are a prisoner in your own home. Everything you want to do requires permission.

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