UK rejects demand from Donald Trump’s new safety chief to take again ‘Isis Bride’ Shamima Begum and different exiled British Islamists in Syria

Britain will refuse any demand from Donald Trump‘s new US government to take back Shamima Begum or any other Islamic State members with UK links being held in Syria, David Lammy signalled today. 

The Foreign Secretary spoke out after a member of Trump’s incoming administration signalled that he would want Britain to bring its citizens home as part of a ‘commitment’ to the international fight against the jihadist group.

Sebastian Gorka, who has been picked as a deputy assistant to the president with a counter-terrorism brief, called on Sir Keir Starmer to act in an interview with the Times.

His comments come after ISIS bride Shamima Begum last year lost her final appeal against the government’s decision to rescind her British citizenship. 

It is thought she would be one of the members of the terror group who would be repatriated under plans outlined by Gorka, a hard right commentator.

There are currently around 20 British women, 40 children and 10 men detained in prison camps in northeastern Syria, according to charities working in the region.

But Mr Lammy bluntly told Good morning Britain today: ‘Shamima Begum will not be coming back to the UK. 

‘It has gone right through the courts, she is not a UK national and we will not be bringing her back to the UK. We are really clear about that. 

‘We will act in our security interest and many of those in the camps are dangerous, are radicals.’

He added that some those in camps would have to be ‘jailed as soon as they arrive’ home to keep the public safe.

Gorka told The Times countries needed to act in a way that reflects their desire to be a US ally. 

And when asked whether Britain should be forced to take the ISIS prisoners back, he said: ‘Any nation which wishes to be seen to be a serious ally and friend of the most powerful nation in the world should act in a fashion that reflects that serious commitment.

‘That is doubly so for the UK which has a very special place in President Trump’s heart and we would all wish to see the “special relationship” fully re-established.’

He was speaking just days after 14 people were killed in one of the worst ISIS-inspired terror attacks on American soil. 

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an army veteran, drove a pick-up truck into people celebrating the New Year in New Orleans. 

Washington has been leading a coalition of countries, which includes the UK, in the battle against ISIS in the Middle East. 

Tens of thousands of captured members of the terror group are currently being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group allied with the West, in huge camps. 

Since ISIS was defeated in 2019, the US has been piling on the pressure for its partners to repatriate their citizens many of whom have been detained for years.

The American Justice Department has argued it is their ‘moral responsibility’ to solve to bring the prisoners home and try them there. 

Britain has so far taken a hard line on the matter and has refused most repatriation requests- with the most notorious being the case Begum. 

The now-25-year-old travelled to Syria as a 15-year-old but was later was found in al-Roj refugee camp in 2019. 

She had been fighting to regain her citizenship since she it was revoked on national security grounds until her final appeal was dismissed last year. 

However, charities have warned there could be around 20 other jihadi brides in Syrian refugee camps looking to return to the UK.

Some of the testimonies of these women detained with Begum at the al-Roj camp were subsequently revealed in WhatsApp messages seen by The Guardian.

 In one message, sent in September 2023, a British mother in her 20s says she feels that UK authorities have ignored her.

‘I’m going to die here if they don’t get me out soon,’ the message sent to UK family members said. ‘I really, really want to go back and be with you guys. I really need hospital care.’

Others, sent by a small number of British mothers to the UK throughout 2023, depict abysmal conditions within the camp, which holds about 3,000 people, 65 per cent of whom are children.

After Islamic State was uprooted in Syria by Kurdish forces with American support in 2019, male fighters – including British men – were sent to prisons in the north of the country. 

But women and children were detained in two refugee camps called Roj and Al-Hol, also in northern Syria.

Camp Roj is one of several camps that has been holding families of individuals with alleged links to ISIL for the past five years, according to the UN. 

Most European countries, including Spain and France, have also repatriated their citizens so that they can be met with justice.

They have expressed worries about the squalid conditions and that not returning them hinders worldwide attempts to eradicate terrorism.

The British government has taken citizenship away from most of the women.