UK’s new terror watchdog sparks uproar by claiming returning British jihadis should get ‘space’ to ‘reintegrate’ into society
QC Max Hill said authorities should leave the former ISIS fighters alone as they were just 'naïve' teenagers
BRITAIN’S new terror watchdog sparked uproar today by claiming British jihadis returning from Iraq and Syria should be given “space” to “reintegrate” into society.
QC Max Hill said authorities should leave the former IS fighters alone in the UK as they were just “naïve” teenagers.
He warned if they are not “left space” by the security services, then we risk a “lost generation” to this dangerous “travel”.
The new Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation insisted that authorities had looked at those who had come back and “decided that they do not justify prosecution and really we should be looking towards reintegration”.
But just 48 hours ago, MI5 director Andrew Parker warned the threat of terror on the streets of Britain had never been as high due to the collapse of Islamic State.
British security services estimate 850 Brits travelled to Syria to fight for ISIS, with about 250 feared to have returned to the UK.
And yesterday the EU’s Security Commissioner, Brit Sir Julian King, warned that more than 8,000 jihadis are being monitored but could attack.
Furious Tory MP Andrew Rosindell hit out today: “IS is an utterly barbaric organisation still intent on carrying out terror attacks in Britain and everything possible must be done to stop its supporters being involved in such atrocities.”
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Hill said: “We are told that we do have a significant number already back in the country who have previously gone to Iraq and Syria.
"That means that the authorities have looked at them and looked at them hard and have decided that they do not justify prosecution and really we should be looking towards reintegration and moving away from any notion that we are going to lose a generation to this travel.”
He added: "It’s not a decision that MI5 and others will have taken lightly.”
And insisted: “But they have left space, and I think they are right to do so, for those who travelled, it’s beyond our ordinary experience, but who travelled out of a sense naivety, possible with some brainwashing along the way, possibly in their mid-teens and who return in a state of under disillusionment and we have to leave space for those individuals to be diverted from the criminal courts."
Home Affairs Select Committee boss Yvette Cooper hit out: “Travelling to a war zone to join an extremist terrorist group is a crime."
"We must be clear that there will be serious consequences for those who take this dangerous course of action.";
And she demanded: "If the police are not prosecuting people who have returned we need to know exactly why not - including what evidence and resources they have, as well as what action they and the Home Office are taking to keep others safe.
“Extremist groups like ISIL seek to glamorise war and terror. It is not brave or courageous to join them in committing heinous violent acts. It is a crime and the police must continue to treat it as such."
And Tom Wilson from The Henry Jackson Society said: “Clearly these returning ISIS fighters pose an unimaginably serious threat to the safety and welfare of the British public.
“But there is also a very real matter of justice at play here.
“These are individuals who have not only chosen to join a terrorist organisation, but who in many cases will have been responsible for perpetrating atrocities and war crimes in Iraq and Syria.
“Some will have been involved in inflicting torture and sexual abuse, others with the killing of innocent civilians.
“There is a very clear moral duty to bring such people to justice.”
