Should They Be Allowed Home? No Farking Way

[bust]

Notorious Australian Islamic State fighter Khaled Sharrouf's wife and children, including the son who was photographed holding a severed head, are seeking to return to Australia.

Fairfax Media understands the family of Sharrouf's wife, Tara Nettleton, is trying to help her and the couple's five children return to Sydney.

Khaled Sharrouf, whose family reportedly want to return to Australia. Photo: Supplied

Agencies recently traced Ms Nettleton's mother, Karen, on a trip to Malaysia in what police suspect was an effort to arrange the repatriation of Sharrouf's wife and children.

Advertisement

One senior police source said intelligence suggested a reason behind the desire to return was because living conditions in Syria are very poor.

While there is no evidence that Khaled Sharrouf himself wants to come back – a move which would see him face certain prosecution and a lengthy jail sentence – the predicament of his children raises sensitive issues due to their young age.

Khaled Sharrouf has paraded his young sons on social media.

The photo posted on Facebook last year of Sharrouf's seven-year-old boy holding a decapitated head in Syria sent shockwaves around the world.

It is understood Sharrouf's three young boys and two teenage daughters are viewed by some senior security sources as victims of their father's extremism. However, the case of Tara Nettleton is more vexed.

She is suspected of helping to spirit her children to Syria via Malaysia after Sharrouf flew out of Sydney in December 2013 using his brother's passport.

During this trip, police suspect Ms Nettleton had travelled on return tickets and was accompanied by her mother Karen in order to evade detection by security agencies. Karen reportedly returned to Australia from Malaysia while her daughter and the children flew to the Middle East.

The revelations about the possible return of Sharrouf's children bring to the fore the debate about the citizenship rights of those who join IS.

On Tuesday, the federal cabinet agreed to introduce laws to strip dual citizens of Australian citizenship if they are suspected of terrorism. A cabinet revolt turned down a proposal to strip sole Australian citizens of their rights.

Tara Nettleton's father Peter has previously pleaded publicly for his grandchildren to be returned to Australia, saying he was deeply concerned about their welfare.

Ms Nettleton converted to Islam and had the first of her five children with Sharrouf when she was 17.

Mr Sharrouf was convicted and jailed for terrorism offences in Australia, as part of the Pendennis plot, but was released before joining ISIS.

He has posted shocking pictures on social media, including those showing his children, while fighting with the terrorist group.

Last Week, Fairfax Media interviewed Australian nurse Adam Brookman, who claimed he was forced to join ISIS after flying to Syria last year to perform humanitarian work.

Mr Brookman also claimed he managed to escape the group and, in comments viewed sceptically by senior police, that he abhorred ISIS's operations.

The federal police initially blocked efforts by Mr Brookman's lawyers to attempt to facilitate his return to Melbourne.

It is understood that police have since agreed to speak to his lawyers.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Totally agree with Bust. No way should they be allowed to return. They made their choice.

 

Sanuk!

[baa99]

They're Oz citizens, so can return.

[bust]

They're Oz citizens, so can return.

 

And that is the debate. Khaled Sharrouf has had his passport cancelled already. His wife has supported him so should her's be as well?

As for the kids I say tuff. Let's keep the family together in Syria where they chose to be.

[waerth]

If it were just the husband and the wife I would say a definite no. But there are children involved. They have suffered for their parents idiocy. But would the children fit in a "normal" society again after all the murder and blood they have witnessed. That is also an issue.

 

I am going to be very harsh here. But the children would be better off dead as their lives are screwed now. They will probably suffer from many problems if they return to a western society. And having them stay in Syria well ........ :/

[bust]

Yep have to agree with you. It is also an issue of what influence they may have on others when they return. Spread the propoganda. Young minds are always easily manipulated. That is one of the main fear of the government.

[My Penis is hungry]

And of course Australia applied the same rules to the thousands, maybe 10's thousands of Yugoslav/Australians who fought on both sides in the Serbian, Kosovo and other incidents in the old Yugoslav states?

 

Nope . . . . . .

 

Many children grow up tangential to their parents. The more extreme the more tangential often.

[waerth]

This is called advancing knowledge I guess. Prolly the effect of those peopel at home was not really understood. Now things are better researched.

[jitagawn]

And then there is the manner the Swedes are handling this:Read article below...

 

For me its crazy to let these people back-let alone give them jobs-

The children I an not so sure but it seems they are the victims here...

 

The concept that they are better off dead is not good karma -

 

 

 

A row is brewing in Sweden over a proposal to fund programs which help returning ISIS “warriors†reintegrate with society.

One such program is already in place in the country’s Örebro Municipality, where jihadists are now being offered psychological help to overcome traumatic experiences they may have suffered while fighting in Iraq and Syria.

Expressen reported that councilor Rasmus Persson wants to be able to offer returning ISIS soldiers jobs, to help prevent the alienation they feel and may have been the original reason behind their decision to join up.

He told regional news program Tvärsnytt:

“We have discussed how we should work for these guys who have come back, and to prevent them from returning to the fighting, and that they should be helped to process the traumatic experiences they have been through.â€

Not surprisingly, the news that ISIS vets were to get publicly funded aid caused a stir, even in a country famous for its socialist policies. But Sweden’s official coordinator against violent extremism, Mona Sahlin, supports taking the movement national and has been quoted as saying she wanted to impose tax aid for immigrants who fought with ISIS.

Now a Swedish soldier has become the focal point of the debate after posting a “challenge†on Facebook on Saturday to extend the same programs to Sweden’s own national forces on their return from duty.

“In a few months, I’m back in Sweden after being deployed in Afghanistan, against Talibans and others who have really jeopardizing development in this very sore country,†Frederick Brandberg wrote.

“There is no permanent job waiting for me when I come home.â€

Sweden currently has 500 soldiers committed to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

On Monday, the Armed Forces told The Local that what happened to soldiers who returned home from war was “no longer our businessâ€.

Brandberg calls his post “Utmaningen†or, “The Challengeâ€.

“It would be wonderful if I was met with a comparable program after my homecoming, after which I could feel safe in having a regular job, with monthly income and a social stable situation in the society where I wouldn’t need to wonder whether I’m wanted or not,†he wrote

[Coss]

Modern thinking suggests they are all able to be rehabilitated. Though I'd bet a dollar or two, that the young'un who held up the human head, will do it again when he's a teenager and full of angst.

 

The tribalist in me says put them in the grinder and make fertiliser.