Number of Brit kids stopped from travelling to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS increases 100 per cent in just one year
Fifty children from twenty families have been barred from travelling to the Middle East
THE number of children stopped from travelling to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria has more than doubled in a year.
Fifty from 20 families were barred by court orders from travelling to the Middle East in 2015 over fears they could be radicalised.
That was up from 23 kids banned by family court judges 12 months earlier, according to figures from a Freedom of Information request.
It comes a year after one of Britain’s most senior judges warned “increasing numbers” of children were put at risk by parents determined to join ISIS.
Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division, was forced to give colleagues new guidance on the issue.
Terror expert Neil Doyle said last night: “The courts may have saved the lives of these children by preventing them from being moved to perhaps the most dangerous place on Earth.
“At least two British children have featured in gruesome videos and the group is increasingly relying on child fighters.
“It is short of manpower due to a very high casualty rate which has seen 50,000 fighters killed so far.”
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ISIS is on the back foot in Syria and Iraq, but it is still attracting large numbers to its ranks.
In October one couple were arrested at Luton airport trying to fly with their five children to Syria.
Others who did make the trip included three East London schoolgirls - Amira Abase, now 16, Kadiza Sultana, 17 and Shamima Begum, 16 - who fled to Syria in February 2015.
Sultana died in a Russian airstrike in August.
National Crime Agency figures show seven Brits classed as “missing” by police after vanishing to join ISIS.
Last night Security Minister Ben Wallace said: “ISIS' toxic narrative can tear families apart.
“It is right that the Courts are playing their part in safeguarding children, but it is ultimately a job for us all.
“If we act together early enough, we can keep our young people safe from terrorists and their poisonous propaganda.”
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