The bride, the babies and the caliphate

The group that calls itself Islamic State managed to establish a state-like entity across Iraq and Syria in 2014. Through international cooperation, it has been militarily defeated, although a hard core of fighters remain at large in the Middle East and beyond. The majority of fighters had to surrender and were placed in refugee camps. Adherents to IS were not just men. Women also flocked to the cause from Europe and elsewhere. One such was a 15-year old British girl, Shemima Begum. With a couple of friends she left for Syria in 2015. After becoming the bride of a Dutch IS fighter, she had two children, both of whom died in infancy. When Ms Begum turned up in a refugee camp after IS was defeated, she expressed a desire to return to the UK. She was also still a vocal adherent to IS, and was not bothered by the sight of corpseless heads in a bin, the fact that innocent people were blown up in the Manchester Arena two years previous, although the death of children was 'sad'. After the media took up her case, Ms Begum's attitudes began to change - but by then, the UK Home Secretary had revoked her UK passport and told her to go to her mother's country of origin - Bangladesh. Bangladesh has since refused her entry. Shemima was pregnant, and gave birth in late January. The child has now died, succumbing to the harsh conditions in the refugee camps.

A war of words has blown up following the death of the baby. Who is to blame? Well, let's face it, at the end of the day that is of course Islamic State and its toxic ideology.

That discussion is in danger of becoming swamped in tides of emotion at the sad death of an infant. The revocation of British citizenship is held up as the cause of death of the child. A baby carries no blame; but its parents do. Shemima Begum and her partner now face the consequences of their actions, which (if anything) have claimed the lives of their three babies. But also the lives of many innocent people in Syria and Iraq, for whom they did not care a jot, feeling invulnerable, beyond the call of the law. The caliphate would grant them protection. Not so anymore.

Should Shemima Begum be restored with British citizenship, if only because it is illegal to render someone stateless? I am very relieved that this judgement call is not mine to make.