Daily Mail - 19.08.2019

Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019 Page 5

QQQ

Jihadi Jack parents complain as

son loses British citizenship...

even though he DID fight for IS

Broccoli joke wins best gag

title (it’s a matter of taste)

Lord’s almighty! Man banned

for booing Aussie batsman

THE pavilion at Lord’s might pride itself on By Jake Hurfurt

the highest standards of dress and

behaviour.

But the home of English cricket wit-

nessed something far uglier on Saturday

when the prestigious Marylebone Cricket

Club (MCC) was forced to throw out one

of its own members for allegedly abusing

Australia batsman Steve Smith.

The unnamed man is said to have ver-

bally accosted the 30-year-old as he

walked through the Long Room after

being dismissed on the fourth day of the

closely fought Second Test.

Former captain Smith had been widely

acclaimed for his bravery after returning

to bat despite being hit on the neck by a

ball bowled at more than 90mph by Eng-

land’s Jofra Archer. But he remains a con-

troversial figure after being banned for

his part in the ball-tampering scandal

that rocked Australian cricket last year.

As Smith passed though the Long Room

towards the Australian dressing room,

the member allegedly made derogatory

remarks towards the batsman and booed

him, according to The Times. The member

could now be suspended or expelled.

The ejection is understood to be the first

under a code of conduct under which the

MCC ‘expects that Members respect and

support each other, the club, Lord’s and

all who visit or work there.’

Sport – Back Page

By Alisha Rouse

Showbusiness Correspondent

HAVE you heard the one about the

broccoli? A joke about vegetables has

been named the best gag at this year’s

Edinburgh fringe festival.

A Swedish comedian – who goes by the

name Olaf Falafel – came up with the top

one-liner: ‘I keep randomly shouting out

“broccoli” and “cauliflower” – I think I

might have florets.’

Falafel, 42, said: ‘This is a fantastic

honour but it’s like I’ve always said, jokes

about white sugar are rare, jokes about

brown sugar... Demerara.’

His gag was voted the best one-liner by

2,000 members of the public to win the 12th

annual Joke Of The Fringe award, after

being shortlisted by an expert panel.

Falafel said performing at the festival is as

painful as ‘pregnancy’ but he returned for

his seventh year to deliver the winning gag.

He added: ‘It’s been really good fun, I would

definitely say that winning this award has

been a highlight, and just being able to

make people laugh with my stupid jokes.’

After Falafel’s winner the next best four

jokes were by:

2. Richard Stott: Someone stole my antide-
   pressants. Whoever they are, I hope they’re
   happy.


3. Milton Jones: What’s driving Brexit?
   From here it looks like it’s probably the
   Duke of Edinburgh.


4. Jake Lambert: A cowboy asked me if I
   could help him round up 18 cows. I said,
   ‘Yes, of course. That’s 20 cows’.


5. Ross Smith: A thesaurus is great. There’s
   no other word for it.

YOU COWARD

,

MR JAVID

JIHADI Jack’s parents branded

Sajid Javid a ‘coward’ yester-

day as a furious row erupted

over the decision to strip the

Islamic State fighter of his

British citizenship.

John Letts and Sally Lane said

their son Jack Letts had been left

in a ‘legal black hole’ after his Brit-

ish passport was revoked by the

then-Home Secretary last month.

They spoke out as MPs condemned

the decision, saying it set a ‘bad exam-

ple’ to the world by dumping British

militants on to other nations.

The Canadian government also

accused the UK of ‘offloading their

responsibilities’. Letts, nicknamed

Jihadi Jack, holds dual Canadian citi-

zenship as his father, John, 58, an

organic farmer, is Canadian.

The 24-year-old left school in Oxford-

shire at the age of 18 to join IS fighters

in Raqqa, Syria.

He fought on the front line in Iraq for

the terror group in 2014, but was cap-

tured while attempting to flee to Tur-

key in May 2017. He is now being held

in a Kurdish jail in northern Syria.

Yesterday, his parents accused the

the effects of their court ordeal,

Mr Letts said: ‘We did what we

had to do to keep our son alive

and to get him free.’

He added: ‘We think he’s still

alive, we actually have no proof

of life. We know he’s been tor-

tured. I want him out of his sit-

uation and I want him to face

justice if, indeed, he’s done

something wrong. I fervently

believe that he hasn’t.’

The Home Office can only

strip dual nationals of their citi-

zenship if they have two pass-

ports, as international law pre-

vents any government from

making people stateless.

The decision could strain rela-

tions with Canada ahead of a

meeting between Boris John-

son and Canadian prime minis-

ter Justin Trudeau at the G7 in

Biarritz next weekend.

A spokesman for Canada’s

public safety minister said: ‘Ter-

rorism knows no borders, so

countries need to work together

to keep each other safe. Canada

is disappointed the UK has

taken this unilateral action to

offload their responsibilities.’

The row comes after Shamima

Begum, 19, a former schoolgirl

from Bethnal Green who ran

away to Syria, was stripped of

her UK citizenship in February.

Her family is challenging the

decision in the courts.

Yesterday, former defence

minister Tobias Ellwood said

Britain should take responsibil-

ity for its home-grown extrem-

ists. He also that the UK should

lead calls on how ‘foreign fight-

ers face justice, and who is ulti-

mately responsible for bringing

them to justice’.

The Home Office would not

comment on individuals but a

spokesman said: ‘Decisions on

depriving a dual national of citi-

zenship are based on substan-

tial advice from officials, lawyers

and the intelligence agencies

and all available information.’

n Islamic State in Afghanistan

has claimed responsibility for a

suicide bomb attack on a wed-

ding party in the capital, Kabul

on Saturday night. At least 63

people were killed, and almost

200 were injured. A statement

by the militant group claimed a

Pakistani IS fighter targeted

the party.

coward and in denial and naive’

and said he would ‘love’ to

debate him and find out the

reasons behind the decision.

Mrs Lane, 57, said: ‘It was a

real shock that your Govern-

ment can do this to you without

any form of redress or discus-

sion... Jack and other people

are now in a legal black hole.

‘I think Jack wants to come

back to whatever country will

take him. We’ve been told by

the Canadian government that

they’ve been making every

effort to bring him back.’

The couple were convicted in

June this year of funding terror-

ism after sending their son £223,

and were sentenced to 15

months’ imprisonment, sus-

pended for 12 months after an

Old Bailey trial. Asked about

Furious: John Letts and Sally Lane slammed the Government’s decision yesterday

Volunteer:

‘Jihadi Jack’

Letts joined

IS fighters

in Syria

By Rebecca Camber

and Amelia Clarke

‘He’s in a legal

black hole’

Government of ‘shirking responsibility

and passing the buck to the Canadi-

ans’. Mr Letts told Channel 4 News:

‘Justice doesn’t seem to be able to

happen here.’ He added: ‘I thought

British citizens had certain rights. I

thought we had the right to innocent

until proven guilty, the right of a trial,

the right of free speech.’

He described Mr Javid as ‘a bit of a