Caller Holding Newborn Baby Said We Need To "De-Radicalise" Children Of ISIS Fighters

12 August 2019, 17:43 | Updated: 12 August 2019, 17:45

Watch Shelagh Fogarty challenge this caller who disagreed with allowing children of jihadists to return to the UK, then changed his mind and suggested we "de-radicalise" them first.

Children of British born foreign ISIS fighters will not be brought home, the government has ruled.

Shelagh Fogarty asked whether we are right to leave the children of ISIS fighters in war zones.

One caller, with a newborn baby of his own, was very opposed to the idea of allowing children of jihadists to return to the UK.

Shelagh Fogarty asked him at the start of the call why he thought the children were to blame and said: "You're holding a newborn baby, how would it feel for me to take that newborn baby off you forever?"

After Shelagh Fogarty clarified the difference between the conditions in refugee camps and prison camps, the caller started to change his tone and made a proposal. Instead of leaving the children in the prison camps, he suggested:

'If we could, get them [the children] out of there [the prison camps], house them in the country in a camp that we have created, where we can de-radicalise those individuals, and I think we can then make an assessment based on that."

Shelagh Fogarty asked: "And then put them where? And then what?"

The caller said: "Make an assessment there about whether it's appropriate to bring them over" [to the UK].

Shelagh Fogarty stressed: "You can't de-radicalise a two-year old."

The caller then backtracked and said "No, no...they're fine."

Shelagh Fogarty concluded: "We're bringing the babies home....I've worn you down as a new Dad, you're allowing the babies home, that's progress."

Watch the full exchange in the video at the top of the page.