Quora Answer: Should All Returning ISIS Members be Prosecuted?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Given the recent trend of ISIS members returning to their home countries, I have seen some people argue that not all of them should be convicted given we cannot necessarily prove they did anything wrong while at ISIS.  Would this stand up in court?”

I am answering this strictly from a Singaporean perspective.  Firstly, being a member of a terrorist group, with the stated goal of undermining and attacking the state, is itself an offence under the Constitution and the Sedition Act, which carries the death penalty.  Singapore may also choose to detain non-combatants, such as the family members under the Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial for a period of two years, renewable indefinitely.

Secondly, there is nothing to be gained by the spectacle of a trial.  It serves as propaganda, and can be spun into a recruiting tool.  The best way to deal with these extremists is to consign them to ignominious oblivion.  It is not a coincidence that every Singaporean ISIS fighter subsequently ends up dead. We have learned well, from the Israelis.

The wives of ISIS fighters should be treated the same as the husbands.  If they are pregnant, let them give birth, then hang them with the rest.  It saves us the cost of housing them, feeding them and rehabilitation.  Muslim funerals are cheap.  The children should be taken away and fostered out to other families.  Children are a resource that should not be wasted.