Terror suspects like Shamima Begum will be treated like VICTIMS if they exploit modern slavery laws, watchdog warns amid claims Met Police covered for ‘Canadian spy’ who smuggled ISIS bride into Syria

• Begum said to have been trafficked by agent on payroll of both IS and Canada 
• The explosive claims are made in book titled The Secret History of the Five Eyes 
• QC says modern slavery definition so wide suspects may be regarded as victims

Terror suspects like Shamima Begum could be treated like victims if they exploit modern slavery laws, the terrorism watchdog warned last night.

Explosive claims in a new book that the so-called Jihadi Bride was smuggled into Syria by a spy working for Canada – before Justin Trudeau’s nation then conspired with the UK to cover up its role – emerged this week.

It sparked calls for an inquiry into claims the Met and the government knew the alleged people smuggler was responsible for helping Begum and her two fellow schoolgirls join ISIS while also working as a double agent.

Now, Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, says the definition of modern slavery is so wide that terror suspects such as Begum herself could even be regarded as victims by authorities.

He told the Times of his concern over the view that any child recruited to a terrorist organisation was ‘automatically’ a victim.

Terror suspects like Shamima Begum could be treated like victims if they exploit modern slavery laws, the terrorism watchdog warned last night

Begum left school in Bethnal Green, East London, to travel to Syria in 2015, where she married an ISIS fighter and gave birth to three children, all of whom died young

Mr Hall said deciding whether or not Begum was a victim should not be the key issue when her bid to reclaim British citizenship returns to court in November.

He added that assessing the risk she poses was a more crucial question than the circumstances in which she travelled to Syria. 

‘The definition and the way in which the law is applied is over broad,’ he said.

Mr Hall voiced particular concerns with the idea that a child recruited to a terrorist organisation was automatically a victim, ‘if they did so entirely of their own free will’.

‘It is at odds with the fact that children are not generally seen as victims when they commit other crimes, just because someone suggests they should do so,’ he added.

Fresh revelations came to light this week, claiming the now-23-year-old Begum was trafficked into the Middle East by a double agent, on the payroll of both IS and Canadian intelligence.

But officials in Ottawa are then said to have kept quiet, even as Scotland Yard ran a huge, international search for Begum, and her friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, according to The Secret History of the Five Eyes.

Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing alliance, formalised during the Cold War, between the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The book, by journalist Richard Kerbaj, alleges that Canada finally admitted its involvement in the plot as bosses feared becoming exposed, then also managed to convince Britain to cover-up its role.

In response to the claims, calls have been made for an inquiry into what the police and intelligence services knew about Canada’s activities.

Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, says the definition of modern slavery is so wide that terror suspects could even be regarded as victims by authorities

Begum left school in Bethnal Green, East London, to travel to Syria in 2015, where she married an ISIS fighter and gave birth to three children, all of whom died young.

Her youngest child died in the prison camp in Syria’s north-east in 2019. 

She has made previous attempts to restore her British citizenship, but failed in her Supreme Court bid to return to the UK and fight her case in person.

The Supreme Court ruled on national security grounds that she cannot return to Britain to pursue an appeal against the decision. The law states a person’s citizenship can be stripped if they are deemed to be in the public interest. 

Speaking to iNews from the camp while she awaits a trial by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces earlier this summer, she insisted that she wants to be ‘as British as possible’, but conceded that she expects she will spend the rest of her life in Syria.

Source: Read Full Article