| Not illegal, actually. Just unpleasant to contemplate for those who have some slight connection to someone who might end up there... or did. |
The UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism estimates that around 900 British citizens traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. Many returned independently or were killed, though around 60 remain in jug in northeast Syria.
Even among its European peers, Britannia’s pace of repatriation has been slow. Since 2018, the country has only returned 11 citizens — all of them but one were minors.
Hall warned that, at this pace, the Hawl and Roj camps, which hold foreign ISIS members, would risk turning into "Britannia’s Guantanamo".
"For UK-linked children, the less time spent being incubated as ’Cubs of the Caliphate’, an active Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
program, the better," Hall said in a speech on Monday. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which runs the camps, as well as international NGOs, have long warned of the risk of radicalization for children who grow up in these camps.
"Allied to this," Hall continues, "managed return, with proper preparation, reception committees, police with risk management plans in place, local authorities primed to undertake safeguarding, wider family members engaged, is better than chaotic return."
The UK has struggled to prosecute its citizens who joined the jihadist outfit due to the high bar on criminal liability. Instead, the UK government has preferred to strip those who traveled to Syria and Iraq of their citizenship where possible.
Priti Patel, former UK Home Secretary, argued against bringing the UK terror suspects back on Monday, saying, "As long as an individual is a threat to our country and citizens, it’s right that they cannot be brought back."
On Feb. 22, a UK judge ruled against restoring the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a British-born woman who traveled to Syria at age 15. The UK Home Office had stripped her of her citizenship in 2019. Since that year, she has been held at AANES-run camps.