Should have thought about it before she left. She knew what she was doing. As did plenty of others that went. She’s had a shit time off it yes, but it’s all her own doing. She’s alive and obviously getting support from somewhere. Unlike a lot of others that went. They’re dead.
I’m all for appropriately punishing people for the crimes they commit. But we usually don’t deprive solo-nationality citizens of their citizenship (leaving them stateless) for the crimes she is accused of - this is a punishment that is only being applied to UK (including UK-only) nationals who have recent foreign ancestors (i.e. so who could hypothetically - but often not in practice - be eligible for another country’s citizenship - in her case, Bangladesh). We also don’t usually apply extreme punishments like this to people for crimes committed as children, and we don’t usually punish children who were groomed and sex trafficked by terrorists as if they were the perpetrators.
The reality is that if Shamima Begum was a blonde-haired blue-eyed white girl whose parents and grandparents were all from Surrey, the media would have described her as a victim of sex trafficking; and the law that permits this punishment to be applied to her could not even have been used.
The legal system should not treat UK citizens differently according to whether or not the Tories think they look a bit foreign.
She was a 15 year old girl, groomed online and trafficked to Syria, by someone known to and potentially aided by, Canadian intelligence services. She was forced into a marriage (again she was 15 so could not give consent to this) and had 3 children (all of whom died as infants).
Yes she’s done some awful things during her time with IS, but given her age at the time and the difference between her and, for example, “the beatles” group who were conducting beheadings, is huge.
She should be returned to the UK, face criminal justice for her crimes, sentenced accordingly and serve that sentence as what she is, a British citizen.
If she was white she would have been home years ago and they’d have serialised her daring feminist struggle to free herself from Islamist brainwashing.
Legally no it is not. Legally you cannot marry (Even with parental support). Cannot sign a contract. Cannot smoke or drink. And cannot consent to sex.
Seems pretty shitty for the legal system to assign all the responsibilities on a 15 year old because she should know what is going on. But zero rights because she is not old enough to make her own choices.
I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t know that being allowed to smoke and being able to gather knowledge and learn what’s going on around someone go hand in hand.
Yes, some mistakes are beyond forgiveness. Becoming part of a terrorist organization is one such “mistake”. Especially because she is now a threat to the nation’s security. Cause you know, terrorists.
Should have thought about it before she left. She knew what she was doing. As did plenty of others that went. She’s had a shit time off it yes, but it’s all her own doing. She’s alive and obviously getting support from somewhere. Unlike a lot of others that went. They’re dead.
I’m all for appropriately punishing people for the crimes they commit. But we usually don’t deprive solo-nationality citizens of their citizenship (leaving them stateless) for the crimes she is accused of - this is a punishment that is only being applied to UK (including UK-only) nationals who have recent foreign ancestors (i.e. so who could hypothetically - but often not in practice - be eligible for another country’s citizenship - in her case, Bangladesh). We also don’t usually apply extreme punishments like this to people for crimes committed as children, and we don’t usually punish children who were groomed and sex trafficked by terrorists as if they were the perpetrators.
The reality is that if Shamima Begum was a blonde-haired blue-eyed white girl whose parents and grandparents were all from Surrey, the media would have described her as a victim of sex trafficking; and the law that permits this punishment to be applied to her could not even have been used.
The legal system should not treat UK citizens differently according to whether or not the Tories think they look a bit foreign.
She was a 15 year old girl, groomed online and trafficked to Syria, by someone known to and potentially aided by, Canadian intelligence services. She was forced into a marriage (again she was 15 so could not give consent to this) and had 3 children (all of whom died as infants).
Yes she’s done some awful things during her time with IS, but given her age at the time and the difference between her and, for example, “the beatles” group who were conducting beheadings, is huge.
She should be returned to the UK, face criminal justice for her crimes, sentenced accordingly and serve that sentence as what she is, a British citizen.
If she was white she would have been home years ago and they’d have serialised her daring feminist struggle to free herself from Islamist brainwashing.
Yup, Sam Elhassani was home ages ago and she went as a grown adult and there’s more evidence in the public domain that she was active in the group.
15 is old enough to be aware of what’s going on in the world.
Legally no it is not. Legally you cannot marry (Even with parental support). Cannot sign a contract. Cannot smoke or drink. And cannot consent to sex.
Seems pretty shitty for the legal system to assign all the responsibilities on a 15 year old because she should know what is going on. But zero rights because she is not old enough to make her own choices.
15 years isn’t even old enough to buy cigarettes
I’m terribly sorry, I didn’t know that being allowed to smoke and being able to gather knowledge and learn what’s going on around someone go hand in hand.
If you believe that, to be consistent, you have to lower the voting age and age of consent to 15. Which I would support.
Are people allowed to make mistakes? Are some mistakes beyond forgiveness? Should someone pay for their mistakes forever?
Yes, some mistakes are beyond forgiveness. Becoming part of a terrorist organization is one such “mistake”. Especially because she is now a threat to the nation’s security. Cause you know, terrorists.
This includes Americans then lol
Yes, nationality is unimportant when talking about people who join terrorist organizations.
She was a kid!