It must be sheer hell for the grandparents of five children whose mother willfully took them to Syria to be with her terrorist husband and who have been gleefully featured by Islamic State holding the severed heads of executed prisoners. It seems that one fourteen year old daughter has been married off to a man seventeen years her senior who is the best mate of her father.
Now this family claims to have had a change of heart - and wants to return to Australia. Not the terrorist husband, who it is claimed has bought a new wife from amongst the captured women slaves of IS for forty dollars, just the wife and the kids. Apparently, living in a war zone that lacks the comforts and amenities of Australia was not to the liking of the wife and kids and they have had second thoughts - and that is a very dangerous thing to do when you are consorting with the type of people who execute waverers.
If they have had the good sense to be well clear of Syria before breaking cover they now face the obstacle of not being allowed back into this country, or facing court and an inevitable prison term for the wife for a breach of Australian law. It may also be impossible to reintegrate these children into the Australian education system. These young boys have become used to toting guns and threatening to behead captured prisoners in support of the IS cause. It is highly probable that many Australian families will refuse to have them in the same classroom as their own children.
We are a tolerant race of people and there are some in the community who will urge forgiveness. In many ways, incidents like this are the perfect counter balance to the brain washing that IS cleverly presents on the Internet to seduce naive young Australians to join their cause. If this mother and her children are allowed to return they will be a magnet for both the magazine industry and the television talk shows - and no doubt she will become instantly incredibly rich from the fees she can command. Her stories of horror and hardship may influence many others not to go and join the jihad - if she chooses to tell the truth about her experiences with IS.
That is the conundrum facing the government. Basically, we are saying that anyone who willfully leaves Australia to join the jihad in the Middle East is written off as a citizen and will not be allowed to return - or if they sneak back into Australia they will serve time in prison for that breach of Australian law. That opens an interesting legal can of worms when it comes to those with legitimate Australian citizenship. It may take a law change to permit the cancellation of dual citizenship arrangements which apply to some from other countries and whatever we decide will certainly come into conflict with United Nations protocols.
Unfortunately, any decision to readmit those that have joined IS will deliver mixed results. There is a very good chance that some will be hardened terrorists with the training to carry out bombings and murder here on their return. We already have a hard core of radicals. Adding terrorists who have undergone advanced training in bomb making and tactics will be welcomed by these groups - and pose a new danger.
The problem is that where returns involve a law it must widely apply, and in the case of jihadists it would be best served by application individually after a lengthy investigation of each persons involvement in that jihad. Some who were simply naive and misguided can probably safely be reintegrated but there are others whose indoctrination resists change and intend to wage holy war on this country.
Those grandparents who despair that their daughter and grand children will be able to return face an agonising wait. They are stranded in a dangerous part of the world. The children have been used as the poster children for jihad - and as such they are reviled and unwelcomed by the majority of people. Their fate hangs in the balance - and awaits decisions yet to be made !
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