Quora Answer: Do You Believe Returning ISIS Fighters Should be in Prison?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Do you believe that returning ISIS fighters should be in prison?”

Personally, I think ISIS fighters should not be imprisoned.  A lengthy incarceration is a cost to the state and tax payers.  I personally do not believe that they can be rehabilitated either.  Ideally, these people should be put on trial, prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and they should be executed for sedition and waging war against the state.  However, we have to consider the unfortunate reality that a trial and execution would actually function as a propaganda tool for ISIS, turning these people into martyrs.  An alternative to either is to simply take the pragmatic approach of having them quietly eliminated, and their bodies disposed off, in a manner where they cannot be found.  This should be done without fanfare or even official acknowledgement.