Shamima Begum: ‘Fate of Brits in Syria is uncertain’

Professor Harmonie Toros, from the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Reading, comments on the uncertain situation in detention camps and prisons in Northeast Syria.

The camps and detention centres, which hold ISIS-affiliated families, as well as some prisons with ISIS fighters, are changing hands from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to the Syrian Army of President Ahmed al Sharra.

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Professor Harmonie Toros said: “The fate of thousands of displaced people, some of them British children, remains uncertain. There are reports that families, including children, are being encouraged to leave the camps, but it is unclear where they can go and under what conditions.

“This is a legal and a security challenge for the UK government and other European nations, and the result of successive governments trying to ignore the question of the repatriation of British families from Northeast Syria for nearly seven years. While much of the focus has been on the single case of Shamima Begum and her legal battle around citizenship, this is a broader question that involves at least 60 British or former British citizens, many of them children.

“It is also a security concern: Some of those held in the prisons are believed to have taken part in ISIS crimes and it is unclear where they are and under what conditions they are being held."