British women and children detained in Syria after leaving IS plead with Government to allow them to return home
Video report by ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo
The one-time women of so-called Islamic State who travelled to Syria from Britain to join the terror organisation have spoken to ITV News, issuing pleas to the UK Government to allow them and their children to return home.
"This is not life... I don't want my children to stay in a refugee camp... I want them to go back to the UK, I want them to have a good education," one woman said.
At least two British women and their children are being held in a camp in northern Syria, having been arrested while trying to leave the country after travelling there to join so-called Islamic State.
However, the UK will not repatriate detainees, meaning they are stuck indefinitely in the camp.
Kurdish authorities say they are overwhelmed and frustrated by the lack of co-operation from other countries, and in the case of the two women who spoke to ITV News, say they are Britain's problem and not theirs.
However, UK authorities have so far refused calls to take back any of its nationals detained in Syria, for example, going to great lengths in the case of two British terror suspects nicknamed "The Beatles” by stripping them of their citizenship.
Meanwhile France repatriates detained children, but not their mothers.
The two detainees are also pleading with the UK Government to allow them home.
The first woman ITV News spoke to said she had made a mistake in joining so-called Islamic State.
"I didn't want to come to Syria," the woman said.
"I got in touch with the wrong people and it was a vulnerable time in my life.
"I got tricked into coming to Syria."
The second woman ITV News spoke to also pleaded for the Government to "take us and our children as soon as possible".
She recalled her time in the caliphate and how much of it was lived in fear.
The mother told how during much of her time in Syria she was confined to a medafa - a women's dormitory - and that she could not leave it "without permission, no one can visit you and everyone is scared".
In response to the women's pleas, a spokesperson for the UK Government said: “The UK advises against all travel to Syria.
"As all UK consular services are suspended in Syria, it is extremely difficult to confirm the whereabouts and status of British nationals there.
"Anyone who does travel to Syria, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger.”