“coward”, adding: “Obviously it’s his last act [as home secretary] and he can move on and not have to even
justify it. I would love to have a debate with Sajid Javid about this and see what are the reasons they’ve done
this, we can’t even find out, it’s all secret.”
John Letts told Canadian television the pair believe their son is “innocent” and want him to be able to prove
it at trial. “As far as I’m concerned, there is no evidence that Jack has done anything wrong,” he added.
Letts posted a photo of himself online in combat fatigues near Isis’s de facto capital of Raqqa, and openly
wrote about his desire to carry out a terror attack on Facebook. In an interview with ITV earlier this year,
Letts described how he lived on the “Oxford Street of Raqqa” and had welcomed news of Isis’s 2015 Paris
attacks. He claimed he later realised he was an “idiot” and tried to escape Isis territory.
Speaking yesterday, Letts said the removal of his British citizenship made “no difference” to his situation.
“I’ve been here for two and a half years, they haven’t helped me at all,” he added. “It’s almost as if I’m not a
British citizen anyway ... I don’t think anyone is going to help me.”
Kurdish authorities have urged Britain and other nations to “take up their moral and legal duty” to
repatriate foreign fighters. Three years ago, a government-commissioned review warned that stripping
people of their citizenship may be an “ineffective and counterproductive weapon against terrorism”. The
document said the move left jihadis free to continue terrorist activities abroad, prevented monitoring and
encouraged the “dangerous delusion that terrorism can be made into a foreign problem”.
The government has refused to repatriate Letts, Shamima Begum and dozens of other British jihadis
imprisoned in Syria, while dramatically increasing its use of controversial powers to remove their British
citizenship. Some have allegedly been made stateless by the move, which is a violation of international law,
although government guidance permits the move if a person is eligible for another nationality.
“Banishing people from the UK belongs in the dark ages – not 21st century Britain,” the Liberty campaign
group said. “The government has an array of powers, including the criminal law, which it can and should
use to deal with people suspected of involvement in terrorism.”
Official statistics show citizenship deprivations were used only a handful of times a year, until they rocketed
by 600 per cent from 14 people in 2016 to 104 in 2017. The Home Office declined to give a reason for the
dramatic increase, and said it could not provide a breakdown of how many Isis members were involved or
the justification for each case.
A spokesperson said: “Decisions on depriving a dual national of citizenship are based on substantial advice
from officials, lawyers and the intelligence agencies and all available information. This power is one way we
can counter the terrorist threat posed by some of the most dangerous individuals and keep our country
safe.”