UK must repatriate more nationals in Syria, says terrorism policy adviser

An estimated 52,000 people – 60% of whom are children – are detained in the Hol and Roj camps in Syria. Photograph: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images

The UK government must allow greater repatriation of British nationals held in Syria, recognising that circumstances have changed since 2017, according to Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

He also predicted little security risk in allowing the return of Shamima Begum, who fled her east London home when she was 15 years old to join the Islamic State in Syria, because her notoriety is such that she is likely to apply for a lifelong anonymity order requiring daily contact with authorities. Begum was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019, a decision upheld by the supreme court.