British jihadists ‘should be killed’
" . . . so I'm afraid we have to be serious about the fact these people are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them." Rory Stewart, Foreign Office Minister
BRITAIN: Nearly all Britons who join Islamic State should be killed, the UK government made clear yesterday in a significant toughening of its line.
Rory Stewart, a Foreign Office minister, confirmed a policy that could result in hundreds of British jihadist volunteers in Syria facing death rather than being spared to be put through the courts or stripped of citizenship.
His harsh language followed a warning two weeks ago by Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, that Britons joining Isis had made themselves legitimate targets for RAF or American missiles.
Stewart was commenting on remarks by Brett McGurk, the United States envoy to the coalition against Isis, who had described his mission as ensuring that every foreign fighter who went to Syria died in Syria.
Stewart, a former diplomat and infantry officer, said: ‘‘These are people who have essentially moved away from any kind of allegiance towards the British government.
‘‘They are absolutely dedicated, as members of the Islamic State, towards the creation of a caliphate; they believe in an extremely hateful doctrine which involves killing themselves, killing others and trying to use violence and brutality to create an 8th-century, or 7thcentury, state so I’m afraid we have to be serious about the fact these people are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them.’’
Stewart, a minister in both the Foreign Office and Department for International Development and a former tutor to princes William and Harry, has been tipped as a future Conservative leader.
‘‘These are people who are executing people in the back of their heads, who have held women and children hostage, who are torturing and murdering, trying by violence to impose their will. Our response has to be, when somebody does that, I’m afraid, to deal with that.’’
He accepted that there were ‘‘very difficult moral issues’’.
A government spokesman said: ‘‘Nobody should be in any doubt about our determination to fight and defeat Daesh terrorists, regardless of nationality.’’
The government confirmed that Stewart’s comments ‘‘are consistent’’ with the line taken by Fallon after reports that Sally Jones, 50, from southeast England, a recruiter with Isis, was killed in a drone strike on Syria.
Her son Jojo, 12, is likely to have died in the same attack.
The defence secretary warned her fellow volunteers: ‘‘If you are a British national in Iraq or Syria and if you have chosen to fight for Daesh . . . then you have made yourself a legitimate target.’’
The stance contrasts with that of Max Hill, QC, the independent reviewer of terror legislation, who said last week that returning Isis volunteers could be rehabilitated because they had been naive to go to Syria. More than 130 Britons have died fighting for Isis. Others have been able to return without prosecution.
Former British prime minister David Cameron sanctioned drone killings of certain British Isis volunteers who were a ‘‘clear and present danger’’ but the blanket ambition to kill most of the rest was previously unstated.
Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said: ‘‘From a government perspective, them dying out there is the easiest solution.’’
He accepted that although some schoolgirls might have been unaware of the dangers in Syria, anybody in their late teens upwards would have to be ‘‘exceptionally naive’’ not to realise they were making a ‘‘very bad life choice’’.
Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat MP, said Isis extremists returning to the UK ‘‘now present the biggest risk to our security but will need to be tackled using domestic powers and laws available to the police, security services and our courts’’. –