Islamic State returners: Are they victims or criminals?

The vast dystopian caliphate created by Islamic State is over, but among the moral challenges it leaves for Western governments is the quandary of what, if anything, to do with those of its citizens who travelled to Syria and Iraq as jihadi brides and so-called IS fighters — so-called because these young men were not fighters in the normal military sense of the word; they were terrorists, participating zealously in a regime of unrestrained cruelty.

Some of them, such as the British woman found by The Times, are stranded in refugee camps in Syria and currently beyond the reach of consular officials, while others are being held by the Kurdish forces that have contributed so much to the destruction of the caliphate.