Give Shamima Begum legal aid so she can face justice in the UK – otherwise we risk repeating our past mistakes

In the time since she hit the headlines, our government has taken positions which should make us shudder

Shamima Begum represents a test for British values and justice that so far we’re failing.

Terrorism has a powerful effect on people. It does just as the name suggests, and often leads us to behave in a way which we wouldn’t normally.

The aftermath of the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks brought us the Patriot Act, sweeping surveillance laws, the War on Terror and two devastating conflicts.

The raft of anti-terror legislation introduced in the UK during that time “profoundly [altered] the relationship between the state and the citizen”, in the words of Dr Maria Norris, an expert on terrorism and national security.

In the hysteria surrounding the case of Begum, it appears that relationship is being altered once again.

It has been a little more than two months since the British teenager walked out of the last Isis-held town in Syria and into the headlines, and in that time our government has taken positions which, viewed in the cold light of the day, should make us shudder.

The stripping of Begum’s citizenship left many second generation immigrants in Britain – who were born in the UK and have known no other home – to wonder whether they were now a lower class of citizen.

There are dozens of British children languishing in Syrian camps (where the young are dying at an alarming rate) who have been forgotten by our government. In order to bring them back, we would have to also repatriate their mothers, and their crimes are deemed so heinous that the safety of those infants has become an afterthought.

Today, some MPs are calling for Begum to be denied legal aid, which has long been a fundamental pillar of our legal system.

All of these measures are being taken to deal with the “special” case of Begum, and the others who went to join Isis.

To be clear, Begum is no innocent victim. In my years reporting on Isis across the Middle East, I’ve seen the carnage they have brought firsthand. She must be held accountable.

The only way to do that while staying true to our own values is to bring her back to the UK to face justice. If we do not, we are in danger of making the same mistakes of the past.

The aim of terrorism is to change us; al-Qaeda, Isis and all the other terror groups of their ilk want us to react irrationally, question ourselves, become hardened, and in doing so widen the gap between us and the communities they claim to represent.

So far, we are doing just that.

Yours,

Richard Hall

Middle East correspondent