David Davis urges UK to repatriate British families detained in Syria

Foreign Office must take responsibility for its own citizens who are being held without charge of trial, former Tory cabinet member says

Children run in Al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group in Hasakah province, Syria. AP

The UK risks suffering “international embarrassment” for its failure to repatriate 25 British families detained in Syria, a former Conservative cabinet minister has warned.

David Davis urged the Foreign Office to review its policy and take responsibility for its own citizens, who he said are being held without charge.

Campaign group Bring Them Home says the majority of the detainees are children, adding they have been “abandoned by their governments and live in squalid conditions”.

Celebrities including Olivia Colman, Gillian Anderson and Stephen Fry are among those to have signed an open letter asking for the families to be returned to the UK.

Foreign Office minister David Rutley said UK security remains the priority before adding the Government will decide what action is necessary against people who fought for or supported the ISIS terror group.

Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, earlier this year said Shamima Begum and other British women who joined IS should be allowed to return to the UK.

Mr Hall said he understood people wanted to see “vengeance” and “punishment” for British citizens who joined ISIS.

But he insisted the position now was different to the “real dilemma” the Government faced at the time Ms Begum’s citizenship was revoked.

Mr Hall also said failing to permit her to return could lead the UK to be an “outlier” in Europe and prompt some to use the situation to brand the camp where she is held as “Britain’s Guantanamo”.

Ms Begum is reportedly one of an estimated 60 British women and children held by Kurdish authorities in Syria who have no means of leaving without the UK Government’s co-operation.

Mr Davis told the House of Commons: “Most of Nato, including America, Canada, France and Germany, have repatriated their citizens from detention facilities in Syria.

“The United Kingdom repeatedly refuses to do so and is now an international outlier.

“Twenty-five British families are held in Syrian detention facilities without charge or trial.

“Our independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has said that without action this will become our Guantanamo.

“So will the Foreign Office review this policy to avoid us suffering international embarrassment for failing to take responsibility for our own citizens?”

Mr Rutley replied: “Repatriating citizens and the management of risks posed by returnees is ultimately a matter for individual countries.

“Our priority remains ensuring the safety and security of the United Kingdom and the UK will continue to work closely with international partners in addressing the issues associated with those who fought for or supported Daesh, and in the pursuit of justice to those who participated in terrorism overseas.”

Ms Begum was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey and into territory controlled by ISIS in 2015, before her citizenship was revoked in February 2019.

She has been locked in a legal battle ever since.