UK Police: ISIS Schoolgirls Won’t Be Prosecuted as Terrorists

No Evidence Girls Were Involved in Terrorism

Three British schoolgirls who fled the country last month to join ISIS will not face any terrorism-related charges if they return, according to counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley.

Rowley, who was testifying to the British parliament, says there is no evidence the three girls have done anything terrorism related, and also denied there was any wrongdoing by police in their fleeing the country.

“There was nothing more we could have done to prevent” the girls leaving the country, Rowley insisted, saying it was unrealistic for people to expect the police to stop every 15-year-old girl trying to join ISIS.

Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe went on to say that a “minimum” of 700 Britons are known to have gone to Syria to join militant groups, the largest figure British officials have yet put forward.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.