Storm as courts rule parents of Syria runaways can’t be named

JUDGES have caused controversy by ordering that the parents of nine children involved in plots to travel to Syria should have their identities hidden.

They include three terror suspects who have all previously been named but now cannot be identified to protect their youngsters from the glare of publicity.

Also among the parents are a couple who lied to the authorities about losing their daughter’s passport.

Critics argue that the parents should be named because they could be extremists and therefore a risk to other members of the public.

One case involves a family of nine Britons – three men, two women and four children aged between one and 11 – who were caught trying to get into lawless Syria from Turkey last week.

The group, from Rochdale, were led by 21-year-old politics undergraduate Waheed Ahmed, the son of Shakil Ahmed – a respected Labour councillor who was photographed with Ed Miliband just months ago.

Anonymity orders were granted to shield the children from the glare of publicity. But the draconian orders mean three of the adults must also have their identities hidden even though they are terror suspects.

In a separate case, the High Court banned the naming of five girls, aged 15 and 16, who had their passports confiscated after they showed an interest in Islamic extremism.

Four attended Bethnal Green Academy in East London while the fifth is home schooled.

The girls were granted anonymity because they were juveniles. But this means the identities of their parents must also be hidden behind a cloak of secrecy. These include the couple who lied to the authorities about their daughter’s passport.

Police and social services had sought to seize it because they were concerned the teenager had been radicalised. Counter-terrorism officers wanted to ensure she did not follow in the footsteps of

All smiles: Councillor’s son Waheed Ahmed after being held on the Syrian border four other pupils from the school – Kadiza Sultana, Shamima Begum, Amira Abase and Sharmeena Begum – who ran away to join Islamic State.

But when approached by police, social workers and teachers, her mother and father insisted the passport had disappeared and, in any case, had expired.

Later, police discovered the girl’s passport remained valid until 2016. A High Court judge said the failure to disclose the truth was ‘manifestly highly relevant’ in the decision to impose a travel ban on the vulnerable child.Mr Justice Hayden, sitting in the family division of the High Court, said: ‘I have no doubt that misinformation about [the girl’s] passport had been given to the school, the police and to the social services, a fact which plainly is relevant in evaluating the matrix of risk.’

He said the parents ‘deliberately did not share [information] with the authorities.’

Hannah Stuart, a research fellow for security think-tank the Henry Jackson Society, said granting anonymity to the three Rochdale terror suspects was ‘like trying to put a cat back in a bag’ as they had previously been named. But she said the Bethnal Green schoolgirls should not be named because ‘the stigma will stay with them forever’.

She also suggested the parents of one girl lied because of the malign influence of radical extremists and their apologists such as Muslim human rights group Cage, which supported Islamic State killer Jihadi John.

‘These groups foment a belief within the Muslim community, whether out of ignorance or malice, that they should be fearful of the police, of the State, of counter-terrorism policies, and should not co-operate,’ she said.