A committee of MPs and peers claims that more than 400 individuals who fought for the Islamic State have returned to the UK after travelling to the Middle East to join the outlawed terrorist organisation. According to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) of Parliament, none of these supporters have been successfully punished for their crimes.
This is even if there is a chance that many participated in murders, acts of terrorism, and the persecution of minorities in Syria and Iraq. Once controlling substantial portions of Syria and Iraq, IS was in charge of extensive terror, murder, and rape campaigns that frequently targeted Yazidis and other minority religious groups. According to estimates, the terrorist organisation slaughtered 5,000 Yazidis and forced over 200,000 of them from their homes.
Why haven’t returning IS fighters faced UK justice?
Instead of having them tried in Iraq or Syria, where the crimes were committed, the committee urged the government to take action to guarantee that they could be tried in British courts. According to the committee, ministers have previously stated that any such offences are “best investigated and prosecuted under local laws.” However, the lawmakers stated that this was not likely to occur in the Middle Eastern nations where IS was active.
“Where the UK has jurisdiction over international crimes, the UK should seek to investigate and prosecute such crimes,”
the committee’s latest report said.
The committee stated that the inability to prosecute individuals for war crimes and genocide unless they are UK citizens, residents, or “subject to service personnel laws” presents a “key barrier” to the UK courts’ ability to administer justice in certain cases.
According to the committee, ministers must modify the legislation using the Crime and Policing Bill that is presently pending in Parliament and guarantee that anybody accused of committing war crimes or genocide can be held accountable in the UK.
In order to prevent the loss of evidence, it also demanded improved collaboration between the Crown Prosecution Service and specialised police officers working on genocide investigations.
How can the UK amend laws for justice?
Lord Alton of Liverpool, chairman of the JCHR, said:
“This is not something the UK can simply wash its hands of because it happened overseas. We know that British nationals committed the most horrendous crimes in Iraq and Syria under the Daesh regime, and we have a duty to see them brought to justice.”
“To date, no Daesh fighters have been successfully prosecuted for international crimes in the UK, and we find this unacceptable.”
He added:
“We seek greater government action to identify the perpetrators, some of whom might have returned to Britain, while others are likely detained in camps in Syria. Achieving this necessitates improved coordination among law enforcement and the criminal justice system, as well as addressing barriers that hinder progress prosecutions.”
The study also urges increased openness on the government’s use of its authority to deprive British individuals of their citizenship due to their ties to IS.
The state’s most well-known exercise of this power was when Shamima Begum visited the IS-held area ten years ago.
However, the UK “uses deprivation of citizenship orders more than almost any country in the world,” according to the research, and politicians need to take this into consideration. According to Lord Alton, the committee stated that more needs to be done to repatriate children who are being kept in “deplorable” circumstances in camps in northeastern Syria.
“They must be brought home, and it is in the UK’s interest to ensure they do not become a new generation of radicalised people,”
he continued.
