One in 8 UK militants prosecuted after returning from Syria, Iraq
Only one of eight British militants who have fought along terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq have faced prosecution after they return to the UK.
Richard Keen, a Home Office spokesman in the House of Lords, said that Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has only prosecuted 35 cases that involved 54 British nationals accused of joining Takfiri groups in the two Arab countries.
Lord Keen further noted that 13 cases that involves 30 militants are ongoing and that Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service was also dealing with a British national who traveled to Syria and fought along militants there and then returned.
Some 400 British citizens have reportedly traveled abroad since 2012 to join militant groups such as Daesh Takfiri group and al-Qaeda-affiliated ones and then moved back to the UK.
British authorities also said that at least 800 UK nationals have traveled to Syria and Iraq to support or fight alongside the Takfiri terror groups operating there.
The low rate of prosecution of British militants is described as being alarming by experts as they believed to pose a major security threat to the country.
Experts also said that a number of the militants return to the country without being detected.
Daesh terrorists have repeatedly called on the group’s members to carry out attacks in their home countries, similar to those carried out in the French capital, Paris, last November, which left some 130 people dead.
A Home Office spokesman said it had a wide range of powers in order to “disrupt travel to conflict zones and manage the risk posed by returnees.”
“Everyone who returns from Syria or Iraq can expect to be subject to investigation to determine if they pose a threat and they should be in no doubt we will take the strongest possible action to protect our national security,” he added.
According to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011.
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