TerrorismU.K. debates whether Britons helping ISIS as medics are terrorists

Counterterrorism officials are debating how to categorize nine British students who had been studying medicine in Sudan, and recently travelled to Syria to work as medics for the Islamic State (ISIS). Are they terrorists? Have they even committed an offense? How officials treat this latest group of Westerners joining ISIS should they return to the United Kingdom may encourage or discourage others who are contemplating joining the fight in Syria and northern Iraq.

“It’s a difficult judgment to make, it really does depend on the nature of their involvement and whether that constitutes a form of terrorist activity,” a British counterterrorism official told the Guardian.

According to the U.K. Home Office, participating in a foreign conflict could be an offense under criminal and anti-terrorism laws. Further clarifying, the office added that, “fighting in a foreign war is not automatically an offense, but will depend on the nature of the conflict and the individual’s own activities.” With that understanding, Britons could possibly travel to Syria for a few months and return home without fear of prosecution.

Furthermore, British police have made an effort to distinguish girls who travel to ISIS territories to become jihadi wives and homemakers from men who take up arms on the battlefield. Just a few weeks ago, Metropolitan police head of counterterrorism, Mark Rowley, told members of parliament on the home affairs committee that the three London schoolgirls who went to Syria would not be prosecuted if they returned because there is no evidence they had committed any terrorist offense. The girls are different from someone “running around in northern Iraq and Syria with Kalashnikovs” who later apologized for committing terrorist offenses, Rowley explained.

Intelligence experts are aware that this perspective on Britons who travel to join ISIS could be used by returning fighters hiding under the cloak of humanitarian work.

The nine British medics should be prosecuted with full force of the law, some terrorism experts say, arguing that offering medical assistance to wounded ISIS fighters is as militarily effective as being a fighter on the frontlines. “They appear to be providing material support which is just as combat effective as if they were providing direct assistance on the battlefield. They should be treated in the same way as if they belonged to a fighting unit,” said Shashank Joshi, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

The Guardian notes that Britons have been permitted to give medical assistance to designated terror groups in the past. In 2010 the Red Cross staff in Afghanistan taught the Taliban basic first aid, even though 103 U.K. service personnel were killed that year in the Afghanistan War. Explaining its decision, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cited the Geneva conventions which note that medical care should be given to all people injured in a conflict, regardless of their position in the conflict.

The medical students upon their return to the United Kingdom could claim that their support of ISIS fighters abides with the Geneva conventions’ treaties governing the humane treatment of soldiers incapable of fighting; but it should be noted that ISIS is a non-state actor, and therefore unlikely to be protected by the conventions’ treaties.

Britons openly fighting against ISIS on behalf of Kurdish rebels — some linked to terrorists groups — are generally commended. British prime minister David Cameron has said there is a fundamental difference between fighting for the Kurds and fighting for ISIS. Yet, many Britons on the battlefield with rebels fighting against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have been arrested under counterterrorism laws on their return to the United Kingdom.

The nine British medics can hope to be treated differently. “Let’s not forget about the fact that they are doctors, they went there to help, not to fight,” said Turkish opposition politician Mehmet Ali Ediboglu, who has kept contact with the medics’ families.