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British man charged with terrorism offence after deportation from Turkey

Mamun Rashid, 26, will appear in court on Monday on suspicion of offences related to the conflict in Syria
Rashid was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport last week after he arrived on a flight from Turkey (AFP)

A man who was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport last week after he arrived on a flight from Turkey has been charged with a terrorism offence, British police said on Sunday.

Mamun Rashid, 26, will appear in court on Monday on charges of preparation of terrorist acts, police said in a statement. 

He was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of offences related to the conflict in Syria.

UK arrests man on 'Syria-related' terror offences after deportation from Turkey
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Turkey's interior ministry had said on Thursday that seven Germans and one British national would be deported to Berlin and London, respectively.

It remains unclear whether Turkish authorities notified Britain ahead of time that it would be deporting Rashid.

Turkey has repeatedly vowed to deport European nationals suspected of travelling to territories previously held by the Islamic State (IS) group, after several countries failed to repatriate them or stripped them of their citizenship. 

Earlier this month, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that Turkey had more than a thousand suspected foreign IS fighters in custody, and captured 287 during its incursion into northern Syria. 

"There is no need to try to escape from it, we will send them back to you. Deal with them how you want," Soylu said.

Last week, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported that 959 IS suspects were being prepared for deportation. 

Most of those suspects are nationals of Iraq, Syria and Russia, it said.

Britain has stripped more than 100 people of their citizenship for allegedly joining militant groups abroad.

Rescue of British children blocked

Over the weekend, the Observer reported that UK Home Secretary Priti Patel had intervened to block a recent rescue operation to bring British orphans and unaccompanied minors home from Syria, citing unidentified sources.

Patel, along with several other ministers including Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, last month objected to the extraction of British children from the war-ravaged country, the sources said.

Home Secretary Patel blocks rescue of British Islamic State children: Report
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Their opposition meant that a late-October rescue operation was abandoned because Patel, Wallace and chancellor Sajid Javid said the children posed “security concerns”, according to the newspaper.

More than 60 British minors had been identified along with a safe route to take them out of northeast Syria and then to Erbil, Iraq, where they would have been flown to the UK.

Previously, Britain has said that it would not take back any British nationals, including children, who are stranded in northern Syria.

Several councils in the UK had offered care and reintegration programmes for the children.

The charity Save the Children, which has officials working in northeast Syria, described the resistance from ministers, including Patel, as “grievous irresponsibility” and said that “playing politics” with children’s lives was unacceptable.

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