The deadly consequenes of leniency with child accused of terrorism

We are deeply worried about the signs of leniency shown by our legal system in dealing with dangerous terrorist only because he is less than 18 years old. This leniency could have dangerous consequences:
1- It will undermine the efforts of our security agencies in foiling dangerous attempts to conduct terrorist activities.
2- It could soften public opinion about the seriousness of his crimes.
3- It will overlook the needed action on investigation and taking actions against the responsible organizations for brainwashing and recruiting children to carry on such horrendous crimes.
4- It overlooks the responsibility of the child family on his radicalisation to the point of allegedly planning to conduct terrorist activity using bombs.
5- The most important deadly consequence is the fact that any leniency in dealing with this alleged terrorist because of his age could lead to wave of imminent terrorist activities carried on by children, even younger than 17.

It is well documented that the international pressure on Syrian and Iraqi governments and accusing them of targeting civilians and kids had resulted in Syrian and Iraqi authorities lenient dealing with children. This had resulted in the terrorist organizations recruiting and sending children to conduct most dangerous terrorist activities because they knew that they will escape security surveillance.

In Syria and Iraq, almost all snipers and spies for terrorist organizations are "children"... mainly under 15.... And the terrorist organizations could exploit a lot of public opinion to condemn the Syrian and Iraqi army for targeting and killing “children”, when in fact they were terrorists.

It is also deeply concerning that until now no debate about who brainwashed, trained and recruited these kids. This lack of debate and authorities’ proper actions had allowed the extremist organizations (including Islamic schools, centres and mosques) to escape any accountability and actions to stop them.

One eyewitness to the well reported event of auctioning the ISIS flag by Markaz Imam Ahmad told us that the majority of audience was children under 16. The eyewitness and his brothers who were present on the event were 16, 14 and 10. Until now, no actions were taken against this centre of extremism. Many of the “graduates” of this centre were killed recently in Syria fighting with terrorists. One of them was Mahmoud Abdul Salam.

Any leniency in dealing with children-terrorists will have deadly consequences. We strongly encourage Australian authorities to consult on this issue with Syrian and Iraqi authorities.