Is pregnant ISIS bride Shamima Begum a victim or a threat?
The lawyer for the family of pregnant ISIS bride Shamima Begum has claimed she and the two Bethnal Green girls who fled the UK to join ISIS in 2015 are victims of grooming and ISIS propaganda.
The Begum family have also asked UK authorities to show mercy for the heavily pregnant 19-year-old.
However, not everyone believes Ms Begum is a victim of the terrorist group.
Former currency trader Macer Gifford left the UK to fight against ISIS at the height of their power, and believes since Ms Begum hasn’t shown any remorse for her actions, she doesn’t deserve sympathy.
“The real victims are the people that ISIS have butchered over the years,” he said.
Dal Babu, former Chief Superintendent of the Met Police says the police had approached the girls in the past about their radicalisation, but didn’t act sooner.
He believes authorities need to look at the back story and to “look at the failures” of everyone involved before she left the UK.
Yvonne Ridley, who survived being captured by the Taliban in 2001, argues Ms Begum can be an excellent source of intelligence for the country, and the UK could follow the route of Scandinavian countries in their deradicalisation programs.
“Britain has to take ownership of this problem,” she said.
Moazzam Begg was an ex-Guantanamo Bay prisoner who spent a lot of time with teenage inmates who have faced torture and abuse. He says anti-terrorism measures haven’t worked in the past and it’s easier to negate the threat of terrorism from within the UK than to fight it in the warzone.
The Home Office has told Good Morning Britain people returning to the UK from fighting in Iraq or Syria should expect to face investigation on whether they have committed criminal offences in the past, and whether they pose a threat to national security.
So should the UK show compassion and let the pregnant 19-year-old return home, or should she be left to her own devices in Syria?
Watch the full debate above.