Children of British men and women who went to Syria to fight for ISIS could become “serious terrorists”, the chairman of an independent counter-terrorism commission has claimed.
With up to 40 children of UK citizens trapped in Syria, the British government had to take the responsibility for repatriating and re-educating them, said Sir Declan Morgan, a retired judge who led work on the report on the UK adopting a different approach to terrorism.
He said the Syrian state had chosen not to accept responsibility for the group. “That means they are effectively stateless and the danger is that these children are actually going to turn out to be serious terrorists,” he said, speaking at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London.
“We can sit back and hope we're not around when all of this comes to pass but we really need to get real about the fact that it is something that as a state, we have a responsibility to address.”
The children are mostly aged 10 or younger; their parents are an estimated 10 British men and 15 to 20 British women who are believed to be in camps or other detention centres in Syria.
Dominic Grieve, Britain’s former attorney general and one of the report’s authors speaking at Rusi, said it was “worth bearing in mind that the United States, Canada and Australia” had all managed the process of repatriation.
“The United Kingdom really stands out as the one country that is refusing to do this, and I agree entirely with what that was just said about the potential long-term consequences."
He later told The National the former ISIS Britons were “a problem coming down the track” for the UK and while some of the men were committed terrorists, there “really is a serious concern that their children could turn out that way, too”.
Other European states have taken back more 1,200 people, almost half of those by France, which has caused some tension in the country.
Among others from Britain who joined ISIS were Mohammed Emwazi. He was one of the gang of four “Beatles” who beheaded several western hostages and was killed in a US air strike in 2015.
Shamima Begum was one of three schoolgirls who left London for Syria in 2015 aged 15. She had three children in Syria, all of whom died. She is in a long-running legal battle to regain her citizenship after it was revoked by the Theresa May government on national security grounds in 2019.
More than 900 people from Britain travelled to Syria during the civil war that began in 2011, with the majority joining ISIS. Of those not killed, about half are thought to have returned home. There are 18 children and three women from Al Hol and Al Roj camps in Syria who were formally repatriated by the UK following the ISIS’ collapse in 2019.
But a report by the Independent Commission on Counter-Terrorism Law, Policy and Practice deemed the UK’s approach to the remaining 70 to be “increasingly untenable” with camp conditions in Syria documented by the UN as “inhuman, dangerous, and degrading”.
Many women and children were victims of “coercion, trafficking, or exploitation” and some had potentially been coerced into terror activity.
Therefore, the British government should adopt a repatriation policy that would be in “the best interests of the children”, the report said.
Other countries had demonstrated that structured repatriation “combined with prosecution where appropriate” along “robust rehabilitation and reintegration programmes can effectively manage security risks while upholding human rights”.
“A coherent, humane and security-conscious repatriation strategy would strengthen compliance with international obligations, and promote long-term public safety and social stability,” the report said.
On Tuesday a teenager was charged with a terrorism offence, having been accused of attempting to travel to Syria to join ISIS after an arrest was made at London's Gatwick Airport.
The Metropolitan Police said Chafik Aziz, 18, of south London, was charged on Tuesday under terrorism laws after an investigation led by Counter Terrorism Policing London.
Meanwhile, a German court on Tuesday sentenced three Syrian men to prison for involvement in a foreign terrorist group during the civil war after a trial that lasted more than a year.
The three defendants, identified only as Amer Tarak A., Sohail A. and Basel O., received sentences from four and a half to nearly 10 years at court in Munich.
All three belonged to an armed rebel group called Liwa Jund al-Rahman, which Amer Tarak A. allegedly founded, and two were also found guilty of war crimes.
The group fought against Syrian president at the time Bashar Al Assad and later merged with ISIS.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
Fixtures and results:
Wed, Aug 29:
- Malaysia bt Hong Kong by 3 wickets
- Oman bt Nepal by 7 wickets
- UAE bt Singapore by 215 runs
Thu, Aug 30:
- UAE bt Nepal by 78 runs
- Hong Kong bt Singapore by 5 wickets
- Oman bt Malaysia by 2 wickets
Sat, Sep 1: UAE v Hong Kong; Oman v Singapore; Malaysia v Nepal
Sun, Sep 2: Hong Kong v Oman; Malaysia v UAE; Nepal v Singapore
Tue, Sep 4: Malaysia v Singapore; UAE v Oman; Nepal v Hong Kong
Thu, Sep 6: Final
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The UAE's journey to space
Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last 16, second leg
Liverpool (0) v Atletico Madrid (1)
Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: Thursday, March 12, midnight
Live: On beIN Sports HD
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
