THE HOME CLEAN ON
MPs will demand to know the fate of every jihadi who has been prosecuted returning from Syria in Parliament tomorrow after the Home Officer refused to release details on “national security” grounds.
Parliament was told last year by security minister Ben Wallace that 40 people of the estimated 450 who had come back to the UK from Syria had been charged.
Some of those have resulted in jail sentences. Among them Imran Khawaja, 31, who received 12 years in jail in 2015 after he posed with severed heads in Syria.
However, the fates of the majority remain unknown. Some MPs have even suggested that not all of the 450 returnees have been arrested once they arrived back in the UK.
When the Sunday Express used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain more details on these cases, including the courts they appeared in and sentences received, the Metropolitan Police, which compiled the list for Mr Wallace, refused to release any more information.
They would also not disclose anonymous information, stating it could be a national security threat.
The Home Office would also not comment on what had happened to those who did not face charges.
MPs will demand more transparency in Parliament tomorrow.
Among them is John Woodcock, Independent MP for Barrow and Furness. He said: “If people have been prosecuted then it stands to reason that the public should be able to know about it. I am concerned that not everyone who returned has even been arrested.
“I welcome the push for transparency from the Sunday Express and this week will table more questions for clarity on the number of arrests and successful prosecutions.”
Philip Hollobone, Tory MP for Kettering, has raised the issue of returning fighters in the House four times.
He said: “Surely it must be of huge concern that according to our own Government hundreds of these potentially battle-hardened ex-fighters are at large in our own country with their liberty restored.”
Michael Offord, Tory MP for Hendon, has also submitted a written Parliamentary question asking for details of all prosecutions of returned jihadis so far after being approached by this newspaper.
The Sunday Express has demanded details on how many jihadis were arrested on their return, what IF BRITISH nationals do return from Syria, then of course we should prosecute them.
And the public has a right to know what has happened to those who have already returned.
After being approached by the Sunday Express, I submitted Parliamentary questions asking for details on charges, how many convictions there were and where they were heard.
Shamima Begum says she wants to return. For those who say she is a young girl and should come back, most public opinion is not going with that.
She has not renounced any of these views and still very much believes them.
Even if they are there as the wives of Isis fighters they are still providing support and assisting enemies of the UK and that in itself should lead to a charge.
If allowed to return, she could be free to walk among us and do what she wants when she wants. monitoring was in place for those not prosecuted and the sentences handed out to those who have faced prosecution. Conviction rates for terror offences alleged to have been committed abroad can be low due to a “lack of evidence”.
More people are expected to return to the UK after Islamic State lost its grip on strangleholds in Syria and Iraq. This week the case of Shamima Begum, the “jihadi bride” who is nine months pregnant, has highlighted the difficulties.
The 19-year-old, from Bethnal Green, east London, is in a Syrian refugee camp and wants to return to the UK to have her baby. She was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy, who left the UK for Syria in 2015.
Since 2011 around 950 jihadis are thought to have left the UK to