(Photo: Courtesy Metropolitan Police)
From left: Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum all left home to reportedly join ISIS.
Christian Post Report – More than a dozen parents have told headteachers of two London secondary schools that they fear their children have been radicalized and could flee the country to join the Islamic State or other terror groups in the Middle East.
The two headteachers told Nazir Afzal, who was the chief crown prosecutor for northwest England until Tuesday, that some teenagers might be planning to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, as the schools break for Easter, according to The Independent.
“Both [headteachers] said they were scared of the Easter break and would be very relieved if all their pupils came back after the holidays,” Afzal was quoted as saying.
Afzal said he was told by one of the headteachers that parents fear almost every day that their children would flee to Iraq or Syria.
It is believed that about 600 British nationals have left the U.K. to join terror groups in Syria and Iraq since 2013, and about half have returned, according to The Guardian.
ISIS, an al-Qaeda offshoot which seeks to form an Islamic emirate in the Levant region through “jihad,” has gained control over large territories in Iraq and Syria.
The headteachers haven’t report it to police to save the children from facing criminal charges.
“The headteachers said they are in between a rock and a hard place,” Afzal was quoted as adding. “No parent wants to criminalize their child. Their perception of the parents’ lack of confidence also impacted on them, thinking policing and criminalizing is not the approach they want to take — and what else is available to them.”
On why Easter holidays could be a time for the children to make such a move, Afzal added, “When the children don’t have to be somewhere at 9 a.m. and don’t have to be there till 3.30 p.m. there are more opportunities. That’s why Easter came up. After the half-term [it is] the next window of opportunity.”
Two months ago, three children from Bethnal Green academy in east London reportedly fled their homes to join groups in Syria. And a month ago, a court confiscated the passports of four other teenagers after concerns they could be trying to join a terror group in the Middle East, according to reports.
Some say it is the responsibility of the schools to inform police about the possibility of some teenagers joining ISIS.
“Where heads have clear evidence that young people may travel to Syria or are involved in extremist activities, they can and must alert parents and the appropriate authorities,” Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, was quoted as saying.
The issue was first reported by The Times (of London).
Source : Christian Post