Am I responsible for inciting a British jihadi to join ISIS?

I fear I may be done for incitement.

My friend and expert on all things ISIS, Shiraz Maher, alerts me to the fact that Abu Rumaysah has gone, apparently to fight in Syria. Shiraz and I last encountered him on the BBC programme Sunday Morning Live, alongside nobody’s idea of a push-over Dame Ann Leslie. (You can see the video above).

Anyhow, this Anjem Choudary goon spent his portion of the discussion praising ISIS (“I would like to see Britain governed by Sharia,” etc) until provoking Dame Ann, Shiraz and me to ask him why on earth he didn’t just go and join them. All talk and no suitable length trousers etc etc. I ended up volunteering that we would “do a whip around” (18m 32s into the above video) between us in the studio.

And now he has now gone, after being detained and on bail recently on terrorism charges and at risk of having his passport taken away. Amazingly enough he has apparently taken his wife and children with him. Which does not betoken a bright future for them.

However, I am not sad to see him go. It has always seemed to me that people who sit in the UK on Jobseekers’ Allowance preaching the destruction of our society are better off getting put up against a wall and shot by Arabic speakers in a conflict they do not understand. Abu Rumaysah was hot for the Caliphate and now he is there to experience its raping and pillaging joys at first hand. Whether as perpetrator or recipient we cannot yet know. Personally, if I were a blood crazed ISIS type and knew about the amazing infiltration of Anjem Choudary’s group by various security services in recent years I don’t think I would allow Abu Rumaysah to reach the higher end of the life expectancy figures in the caliphate.