Op-Ed: Glasgow woman Aqsa Mahmood, 20, is believed to have inspired or encouraged on social media three missing teens to leave home and join her in Syria. Mahmood left the UK to become a Jihadi bride in Syria in 2013. Sunday all three young women missing from home and reportedly either in Syria or on their way there having followed Mahmood's lead are named as Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, 15. Speaking on British TV Sunday former foreign secretary William Hague put his spin on current news. When challenged as to how these young girls could leave the UK without being noticed by border agency staff or governments spies in the UK he tried to shift blame. Hague reminded the interviewer that people in the UK have objected to government plans for wider snooping on citizens online saying in this case the girls travelling is ultimately the responsibility of the airlines. But the fact is social media accounts used by Aqsa Mahmood are already monitored by government spies in the UK. She is now deemed a terrorist by British authorities. A message by Mahmood on Twitter, sent on 15 February, two days before the schoolgirls left London said: "Follow me so I can dm (direct message) you back". The families of the three girls are begging them to come home while the family of Mahmood calls her a disgrace. Mahmood's family has accused the authorities of failing the girls noting that at least one had contact on twitter with her daughter. Scotland Yard said it would not discuss matters of surveillance and security reports BBC News but is that good practice or a cop out? Were the girls simply assessed as just silly girls? PM David Cameron has promised to do what he can to help return the girls home. There are now calls for families to take passports away from girls at risk. According to The Times of India "The head of Inspire, a human rights organisation working with Muslim women, called on schools to do more to burst the "romanticised notion" of IS that is being peddled to young people by a slick online propaganda machine." But there are reports that the girls have crossed into Syria. Aamer Anwar speaking to the media on behalf of Mahmood's family accused the British authorities of being guilty of "exporting terror" to Iraq and Syria by their failure to act. "There must be an inquiry as to what exactly the intelligence services are doing with the intelligence they are gathering. "If the intelligence services have this information, surely they should not just be sharing it with Turkey but they should be sharing it with the families so that they can nip this in the bud. "There is no point in declaring war in ISIS in Syria but doing very little to stop young people actually getting on the flights and getting across the border into Syria. "This could happen to any other family across the country."
One thing that continues to puzzle is who are ISIL? They hit mainstream media headlines in the summer of 2014 but reports now indicate they have been around for some time; dating back to the west arming rebels in Syria perhaps?
1 Comment
Julia
2/22/2015 01:05:30 am
I would like to say that these young women are impressionable, but I think even a five year old knows it is wrong to run away and join such an organization. In the end young people are much more aware than people think. I remember back when I was student teaching the other student teachers would discredit kids perceptions and say "oh they do not understand what age is," or this and that. Actually, those kids were a lot more aware than people think.
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