This is a sickening story.
British girls as young as 14 are being helped to marry Islamic State fighters in Syria in increasing numbers by London-based “facilitators”.
Teenagers wanting to become ‘Jihadi brides’ are being assisted with applying for passports, given funding and sometimes even accompanied to the region after being groomed online.
Ew. What a golden opportunity – marry a murderer and give up all your rights for the sake of the bright lights of IS-held Syria.
Pockets of east London in particular are becoming hotbeds for organised groups of men and women helping young IS supporters to get to the Syrian conflict zone, the Evening Standard reported.
Haras Rafiq, an expert at British counter-terrorism think-tank, the Quilliam Foundation, says the organisation is “aware” of groups working across London but particularly in the east of the capital.
He said: “The average age is being reduced. Some of the girls getting out there are only 14.
Ew ew ew.
Mr Rafiq said the attraction for these girls is escaping their “regressive” home lives.
He added the roles this girls play once in IS are primarily domestic. But Mr Rafiq added they are also given the job of acting as the “morality police” and attend radicalisation classes where they learn how to “brainwash” potential new recruits online.
The warning comes after a girl of 15 was rescued from joining the conflict in Syria after Met counter-terrorism officers stopped the plane she was on as it was taxiing down the runway at Heathrow.
Fifteen. I remember how ignorant and clueless I was at fifteen. Fifteen.
A minimum of five people a week are evading the authorities and going out to IS, according to Met chief Bernard Hogan-Howe and it is estimated around 1,500 Brits may have been recruited to fight in Iraq and Syria.
The Times said one of its investigators posing as Aisha, a 17-year-old from east London, was offered cash and assistance after making contact with a hardline jihadist in Syria on Twitter.
He sent an image of himself outside the Islamic Court in the Isil stronghold of Raqqa, northern Syria, in which he is clutching a rifle and holding a handwritten message bearing the name from her Twitter profile.
So romantic.
How bad are their current lives, too make this an improvement?
How can we be sure their families are not actually selling them or that they’re not being otherwise trafficked? In isolated ghettos, children could be told that the “outsiders” are horrible and frightful, and that if they say anything to anyone, they’ll get sent to prison forever or some such. How would a young teen raised in such an oppressive environment have the knowledge and confidence to flee? Wouldn’t she just be returned home to that same hostile environment anyhow?
We should not underestimate the sophistication of the local organization of IS (revealed by a Danish and U.K. group on the ground for purposes of later prosecutions for war crimes). We should understand the reach of the appeal (facilited by expertise with the internet) as a “moral” choice for some individuals.
The foundations and actions of IS such as ‘Jihadi brides’ are appalling (or became appalling when some of ‘us’ were beheaded) but the devlopment of IS has rational roots. Loretta Napoleoni has a good analysis of the prototype Caliphate.(http://www.sevenstories.com/news/introduction-to-loretta-napoleonis-the-islamist-phoenix/)
It may be considered beyond the pale but even now tentative feelers through third parties are likely being put out. At some point IS may be something ‘we’ can deal with if IS enforces stability useful for conducting ‘our’ business.
Inconceivable? Look at who ‘we’ deal with now.
A source link please?
Fifteen? Why, she should have been married for six years already!
It seems as though Western ‘tolerance’ has fed into the ghettoization of Muslim ‘communities.’ Turning them into reactionary fantasy lands, indoctrinated with Saudi money. So intensely repressive and misogynist that ISIS could look like a step towards freedom.
Who are you addressing your questions to, johnthedrunkard?
The answer should be to improve the lives of these young women. Give them the economic opportunities, education, and tools to recognize predatory groups. Unfortunately, the responses I usually hear are to hate and fear the Other even more. It makes these communities even more isolated and vulnerable.
@johnethedrunkard, please explain how toleration of other cultures and immigrants leads to ghettoization? What the everliving fuck are you on about? Marginalization is fed by bigotry and xenophobia, not tolerance whether or not you add scarequotes around the word.
How bad are their current lives, too make this an improvement?