British IS runaway teen’s baby son dies in Syria

LONDON: The British government drew fresh criticism Saturday over its decision to revoke citizenship from a London teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria, after her baby died in a refugee camp.

Shamima Begum, 19, had asked to return home after giving birth to her son Jarrah last month in the camp in northeastern Syria, but London refused.

A spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Mustefa Bali, told AFP the baby had died, without giving further details. The BBC said he had pneumonia, citing a medical certificate.

Begum´s fate has sparked heated debate in Britain, which like many other countries is facing a dilemma over whether to allow jihadists and IS sympathisers home to face prosecution, or stop them from returning at all.

She was 15 when she left east London for Syria with two other schoolgirls, and was found by journalists in the refugee camp after fleeing fighting between the terror group and US-backed forces.

Begum told them she wanted to return home to save her baby, saying that her two older children had died, apparently from illness and malnutrition.

"I don´t want to lose this baby as well and this is really not a place to raise children, this camp," she told the BBC at the time.

Opposition Labour MP Diane Abbott said the death of the baby was "a stain on the conscience of this government".

She accused Home Secretary Sajid Javid of revoking Begum´s citizenship "to appease the right-wing press", saying he had "failed this British child, and he has a lot to answer for". However, the chairman of Prime Minister Theresa May´s Conservative party, Brandon Lewis, told BBC radio:

"There is no question that the duty of a home secretary in this country is to keep British people safe."