British Jihadists who fought in Syria may be sent to Guantanamo Bay as Washington grows frustrated that London is doing too little to sufficiently punish them itself, it has been revealed by the Daily Telegraph.
Senior US officials are said to believe that the US military base and prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can still house upward of 50 fighters from Daesh* who battled in Syria. The Telegraph's report says that this could include the two remaining British members of the so-called 'Beatles' cell that executed Western captives, including American journalist James Foley.
The Telegraph reports that there is increasing frustration in US government circles that the UK and other European nations are not doing enough to punish citizens returning home from Syria and that 1 in 10 returnees to the UK have been put on so-called rehabilitation programmes, rather than facing justice in a court of law.
Reportedly, the rehabilitation schemes are run by the British Home Office, and include mental health treatment and housing accommodation.
READ MORE: Dozens of Suspected Female Jihadis Seeking to Return to UK From Syria — Reports
There are allegedly concerns within the Trump administration that if British Daesh fighters are allowed to return to the UK from Syria, then they will not face harsh enough punishment for fighting with the terrorist group, possibly evading justice altogether. An anonymous source has been quoted by the Times as saying that, "these guys have American blood on their hands."
The renewed concerns over what to do with returning Daesh fighters and their families were ignited after a schoolgirl from Bethnal Green in London who fled to Daesh's caliphate in 2014 has been discovered alive in a refugee camp in northern Syria and has appealed to return to the UK.
Shamima Begum, who is now 19-year-old, married a Daesh fighter in Syria after running away from the UK with friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana. Miss Begum, now nine months pregnant with her third child, told the Times in an interview that she has "no regrets" about joining the caliphate and described how seeing the severed head of a hostage dumped in a bin "didn't faze me at all."
Whether or not the UK will take back Miss Begum and others like her remains to be seen. While her family have implored the UK government to bring her home, Security Minister Ben Wallace declared this week that the UK would not be rescuing her, or others, from Syria.
"I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in failed states. The message this government has given for many years is that actions have consequences," Wallace said.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia