Isis returnees a danger and should be banished at home

Here are two words you never thought were remotely compatible; children terrorists. It doesn’t even roll off the tongue. It reads as, Children terrorists?!

Well, in 2015 four girls from Bethnal Green in London orchestrated a successful escape from their families and joined Isis. As reported in The Times, the girls sold their families’ jewellery to raise funds for their trip to Syria through Turkey. One of the girls was Shamima Begum, 15 at the time, who travelled under the name Aklima Begum, 17, to get past immigration security. The girls’ disappearance made headlines with concerns for their safety and pleas to return home.

BEHEADINGS

Four years later, Shamima was tracked down by Anthony Lloyd from The Times in a Syrian refugee camp. In an interview with Anthony, Shamima explained that weeks after getting into Syria she was married off to a Dutch Isis soldier Yago Riedijk and had two children Jerah and Sarayah who she lost to illness.

Shamima was now making a plea to be allowed back into the UK for the safety of her unborn baby [the UK has denied her entry and revoked her citizenship]. Her baby was born on February 17, 2019 and, in an interview with Sky News, she said people should have sympathy for her, having given birth at the refugee camp.

Raising a defence as to why she should be allowed back into the UK, Shamima said she was only a house wife, she never did anything dangerous, spread any propaganda or encouraged people to come to Syria. If anything, the UK did not have proof that she did anything dangerous.

Let's pause and think about that. It’s not that she didn't do anything; you just can't proof what she did. Her entire premise of coming back home is extremely naive. Shamima is missing the point that she knowingly and wilfully joined Isis even if it was as a wife. She may not have physically participated in the beheadings but she bore sight of a beheaded head in the bin, which didn’t faze her.

EQUAL

Come again? Her reaction to the beheadings was excused as the man was fighting against them and must have done something to Muslim women and children. Lest we forget, she had also watched beheadings of British hostages and this didn’t put her off joining Isis either. All this only goes to proof she was a house wife supporting Isis.

To stretch it a little bit further, when it comes to divorce, the modern day house wife has clout. She no longer considers her job limited to cooking, cleaning and raising the children. The stance is she actively contributes to the success of the husband by keeping the home in order, allowing the man to work towards their success without distractions. Thus, the man’s contribution as the bread winner is not held to a higher standard of the homemaker. Each contributes to the marriage in an equal and specific way and so share equally in the fruits of their matrimonial relationship. And so, but for Shamima's contribution at home, Yago’s success as an Isis soldier would not have been as successful. It now makes it difficult to understand Shamima’s reasoning that she was not advancing terrorism as an Isis bride.

The argument that her child’s safety is reason enough to return home doesn’t wash either. What of the safety of the people in the UK? Surely we have watched enough episodes of Homeland to know better. This could very well be Brody who staged his return from Afghanistan only to be discovered as a radicalised al-Qaeda terrorist orchestrating attacks against the US.

PROPAGANDA

The word of an Isis bride is not golden; you aren’t Caesar’s wife love, we can’t just take your word for it. If nothing else, the baby's safety cannot outweigh that of a country. But I do accept the baby is innocent born into a conflict he did not seek. With the mother’s consent, could you perhaps reunite the baby with the family back home and leave the mother?

As a last-ditch effort to secure her return, what if we considered she joined Isis as a child? Well there wasn't coercion where she was presented to her betrothed on an arranged marriage. Shamima’s sole purpose of going to Syria was to serve as an Isis bride.

She didn't have to go to Syria if this was purely about marriage. She could have picked a husband from any country of her choice, but she chose an Isis soldier especially, after watching the propaganda videos that portrayed life under Sharia law.

What if this was Violet Kemunto Omwoyo reported to be wife of one of the Dusitd attackers? Would she be allowed back into the country from Somalia? Don’t be silly, this is Kenya. A bribe can get you past any hurdles even if it puts the country at risk!