Islamic State children in Syria face a lifetime in prison

Thousands of foreign children, including British kids, are facing a lifetime of imprisonment in camps and jails in north-eastern Syria, with little hope of being released.

A BBC investigation has found that the children, whose parents supported the Islamic State Group, are being moved from desert camps, to secure children’s homes, and onto adult prisons, in a conveyor belt of incarceration.

Britain has repatriated only a handful of children from Syria, most of whom were orphans.

The Kurdish authorities who run the facilities say they can’t cope, and that IS terror cells are recruiting and radicalising children as young as eight.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville reports from north-east Syria.

14 July 2021