Shamima Begum has just given birth to a son in Syria. She was interviewed recently saying that she doesn’t regret joining ISIS, but now wants to return to the UK to access the benefits of the UK. President Trump has also now weighed in saying the UK should take the captured terrorists back. What should the UK do?
The background
Shamima and 2 school friends left east London to join ISIS in February 2015, they were dubbed the “Bethnal Green girls”. They willingly joined ISIS and she reports that it was as she expected, and other than the occasional bomb, things were “normal”. She reports in the interview, in the video below, that she has “No regrets” about joining ISIS.
At the time of the interview she is 9 months pregnant, and due to give any day. She is concerned and would really like her child to be in the UK so they can access the high standards of the UK healthcare system, which is free at the point of use.
Update: 17/2/2019
Shamima has just given birth to a son in the northern Syrian refugee camp.
Should the UK let her back in?
President Trump has weighed into the debate in his preferred medium of a tweet, implying the EU must take back 800 Isis fighters captured in Syria”.
Why did she go in the first place?
As we have already made clear in previous articles, the biggest risk factor for someone joining ISIS is having a strong belief in the salafi ideology, which is a sect of Islam. Its the same sect that groups like ISIS, Boko, Al Qaedia, Al Shebab, etc they all believe in the same flavour of Islam.
One of the fathers of the Bethnal green girls, Abase Hussen, blames the police for “letting” them go to Syria. He said he had no idea why they went. It later turned out he had been taking his daughter to Salafi preacher Anjem Choudary rallies.
My Take
Shamima and the others who supported ISIS have contributed to the groups crimes. Thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and others have been killed, injured or displaced. Where is the justice for them? Why is she not handed over to the authorities in Iraq and Syria who will put this lady in a court and try her. The problem is the European courts are so weak and inefficient, they cant even get successfully prosecutions against known mass murders. The war crimes of the Balkans, which were well documented, highlights this well. The UK would essentially become a base of operations for these disgruntled ISIS sympathisers, who would continue to pursue their objectives as soon as the opportunity arose.
Iraqi courts take around 10 minutes to sentence 40 ISIS brides to death.
The reality is these people are a serious danger, and thus we can not let them in, knowing how weak the European justice system is. They should be sent to the countries where their crimes were committed, where justice is more pragmatic and realistic. That way the world is safer and justice is done for the victims of ISIS, which so many news reports seem to ignore.
Children are among the dead in a ISIS attack against a mosque in Ramathan.