Amid the anarchy of ISIS rule in Iraq and Syria, one rite of passage for some of the thousands of foreign radicals drawn to the group’s so-called caliphate was the burning of their passports.
ISIS propagandists would record and broadcast footage of extremists setting fire to the documents, renouncing their citizenship, pledging loyalty to the organisation’s pseudo-state and calling for terror attacks in their home countries.
In contrast, Shamima Begum – the East London schoolgirl who travelled to Syria to join ISIS in 2015 – took a case against the UK government for stripping her of her British citizenship on national security grounds. That she lost her legal challenge this week not only revives the thorny issue of states removing legal recognition of their citizens suspected of serious crimes, it also calls the policy itself into question.
The UK government argued that Ms Begum was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship by descent, but Bangladesh has disputed this, rendering her, in effect, stateless. Ms Begum was born in the UK and thus was born a British citizen. Does turning a citizen into a legal non-person make the world any safer? Arguably, no. For the determined radical, committed to remaining active, passports and ID documents can always be forged.
The policy also makes the suspect somebody else’s problem. In north-eastern Syria’s sprawling Al Hol camp, Kurdish militias now play the role of ad hoc jailers, exercising shaky control over more than 60,000 people, mostly Iraqis and other foreigners, linked to ISIS. Ms Begum – who now cannot return to the UK – resides in another Syrian camp, Al Roj, which is home to more than 2,500 people suspected of ISIS involvement.
Jettisoning unwanted citizens also frustrates the judicial process. Instead of going through the difficult procedure of investigating crimes, gathering evidence and presenting a case for prosecution, the authorities can abandon the erstwhile citizen, who never stands trial in their home country.
The 2019 decision to strip Ms Begum of her British nationality also distracted from the fact that the UK already has legal mechanisms for trying underage suspects as in the 1993 case of James Bulger, the Liverpool toddler murdered by two 10-year-old boys.
Some countries whose citizens have taken up with ISIS or other extremists approach this very differently. In March 2016, French president Francois Hollande dropped plans to strip convicted terrorists of their nationality, just a few months after extremists murdered 130 people in Paris.
Some countries whose citizens have taken up with ISIS or other extremists approach this very differently
In most circumstances, Americans cannot be deprived of their citizenship. Even John Walker Lindh, the American who joined the Afghan Taliban and was detained as an enemy combatant while trying to kill US soldiers in 2001, kept his passport and was tried in his home country.
In April last year it was reported that Germany repatriated several citizens – 10 women and 27 children – from Syria. Four of the women accused of membership of a foreign terrorist organisation were arrested on their arrival at Frankfurt airport.
What the citizenship policy obscures is the focus required on stopping extremism at its roots. The UK government’s anti-radicalisation programme, Prevent, has been the subject of much criticism. An independent review of the strategy, eventually released on February 8, had initially been due for publication at the end of 2021 but was delayed amid political wrangling.
Nonetheless, working with community and religious leaders to counter the extremists’ message and offering ways out for those already drawn in by radical groups remains the best way to stymie the activities of those determined to target and exploit the young.
Citizenship brings rights and entitlements but it also comes with responsibilities and accountability – a fact lost on those foreign fighters burning their passports in Iraq and Syria, drawn like a moth to a flame by ISIS’s Khmer Rouge-style nihilism. If a citizen is suspected of a crime, not matter how appalling, they should stand trial and be judged accordingly. A citizen of nowhere can end up accountable to no one.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More coverage from the Future Forum
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
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Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan v Juventus
Saturday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Watch the match on BeIN Sports
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Australia
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More coverage from the Future Forum
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The five pillars of Islam
More on Quran memorisation:
RESULT
Liverpool 4 Southampton 0
Jota (2', 32')
Thiago (37')
Van Dijk (52')
Man of the match: Diogo Jota (Liverpool)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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Mobile phone packages comparison
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
