LettersShow British ‘jihadi bride’ mercy to reveal the power of humanity

No one should forget that the danger of those extremists’ ideology is the absence of forgiveness and tolerance

Without forgiveness, there is no love or tolerance in the world, only endless hatred

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Stills from closed-circuit camera images issued by the Metropolitan Police shows British teenagers (from left) Kadiza Sultana, Shamima Begum and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport in February 2015, before catching their flight to Turkey and travelling to Syria to join Islamic State. Sultana is believed to have been killed in a Russian air strike while the fate of Abase is unclear. Photo: Metropolitan Police via AP

Published: 7:03pm, 1 Mar 2019Updated: 7:03pm, 1 Mar 2019

I refer to Henry Wong’s letter, “British decision on ‘jihadi bride’ the correct one” (February 26).

Your correspondent believes that Shamima Begum must be deprived of her UK citizenship and not allowed to return to Britain, because she joined a murderous terrorist group. He further asks whether people advocating her return would change their minds if terrorists had hurt their family members.

Like Mr Wong, I cannot imagine the pain of families who lost their loved ones because of Islamic State. However, please allow me to humbly appeal for her safe return home on the grounds of humanity.

When Begum went to Syria and followed IS, she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was yet to have the full ability to determine right and wrong. Moreover, she was just a bride of a jihadist rather than one of the brutal killers on the battlefield. I wonder, is it really fair to ban her from returning home like those who actually took lives, just because she acted immaturely?

Please allow me to cite the case of the Braemar Hill murders in Hong Kong in the 1980s. In this case, a young couple – Nicola Myers and Kenneth McBride – lost their lives to five gangsters. However, parents of the murdered couple chose to forgive the killers during a campaign of appealing a confirmed term of imprisonment for juvenile inmates. Now, most of the murderers have been freed, started new lives and expressed their gratitude and regret to the parents.