LONDON
Britain's former Foreign Secretary William Hague has said that the UK could let British people fighting in Syria back into the country if they had “good intentions”.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Hague said that if fighters returned to the U.K. and had “good intentions” the government would look at rehabilitation.
He said: "Our top priority has to be the security of the people of this country and that is why we will take action."
"Where we think people could be dangerous, we confiscate passports. We’re working on additional powers to be introduced into parliament, there have been over 200 arrests this year related to people going to Iraq and Syria," he told the BBC.
“But the Home Office and the police and the NHS are also working together on what we can do to assist those people who do come back with good intentions … Of course, we will have to be sure that they do have good intentions,” said Hague.
- Legality questioned
He went on: "We haven’t had a lot of people coming back yet and saying they want to be of assistance but, if they do, of course the government, the police, the National Health Service will work with those people and help them to recover and to assist others."
The U.K. government has previously said they would stop anyone who travels to Syria to fight would not be allowed to return to the U.K.
However, the proposal was dropped after objections and questions raised by lawmakers about the legality of such a move.
A report released in October by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London, said that 23 British fighters had been killed to date fighting in Syria and Iraq.
The British government claims that up to 500 Britons have traveled abroad to take part in fighting in Syria, and that at least 218 had returned to the U.K.
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