David Cameron has proposed new legislation which would prevent Britons who went to fight in Syria from returning to the country.
Over 500 UK citizens – most of them young men aged 16-21 – are thought to have left our shores to join the resistance against the Assad regime since civil unrest began in 2011, according to Foreign Office statistics.
In September a student of Glasgow Caledonian University reportedly dropped out of her course and joined IS fighters in Syria. The 20 year old, posting from her twitter feed ‘@Muhajariah_’ has sent messages back to potential fighters based in Scotland.
Cases like this one only fuel public fear towards returnees influenced by the extremist nature of groups operating in the region. This climate of fear has only increased since ‘Jihadi John’ was alleged to have been an English IS militant.
The civil liberties group Liberty has condemned the legislation, which would withdraw the passports of those who try to return. Director Sami Chakrabarti commented, “It’s wrong in principle and wrong for practical security as well to dump your citizens like toxic waste into the international community.”
The region over the past three years has seen a number of rebel factions at war with Assad, and with it the expansion of the so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The UK Government has also maintained throughout the conflict, that Bashar al Assad has supressed democracy, killed protestors and used chemical weapons against UN law.
As it stands this legislation would view each individual who went to Syria during this period as a terrorist, set on destroying our way of life. Its purpose is to keep the country safe but it will be seen by some as a failure of our justice system. Leaving these young people stateless would mean treating our citizens as guilty without trial. Stuck in conflict zones abroad, they may only have a greater risk of being radicalised.
Featured image courtesy of Edwin Franzen on Flickr.
