Hunt: we’re working to rescue British children of Isil brides
JEREMY HUNT has insisted officials are working on how to rescue British children born to Isil runaways after the death of Shamima Begum’s baby in a Syrian camp.
The Foreign Secretary defended the Government’s stance after it was reported two further women married into the terrorist group had been stripped of UK citizenship while being held in detention camps with their children.
Ms Begum, who fled east London to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) aged 15, had pleaded to return to Britain with her baby boy after losing two children, but Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, revoked her passport.
Mr Javid has faced growing criticism over the move after Ms Begum’s threeweek-old son died in a camp last week, with Diane Abbott, his Labour counterpart, calling the death a “stain on the conscience of this Government”.
Mr Hunt said the British boy’s death was “an incredibly distressing and sad situation” but that it was too dangerous to send officials to the war zone, adding that they were at a greater risk than the journalists who had interviewed Ms Begum.
“Shamima knew when she made the decision to join Daesh [Isil] she was going to a country where there’s no embassy, where there’s no consular assistance. I’m afraid those decisions, awful though it is, they do have consequences,” he told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One. Mr Hunt said he was working with Penny Mordaunt, the International Development Secretary, on how children could be safely returned.
“We have been looking at how we can get in touch with these children, how we can find a way to get them out. Sadly in this case, as we know, it wasn’t possible,” he added.
The question of how to deal with innocent British children in Syrian detention camps is piling pressure on the Government. The Sunday Times reported that two women, with five boys under the age of eight between them, had their UK nationality stripped after marrying into a terror cell linked to the murder of western hostages.
Quoting legal sources, the paper named the women as Reema Iqbal, 30, and her sister Zara, 28, whose parents are originally from Pakistan.
The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases. “Any decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on all available evidence and not taken lightly,” it said.