LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn today said the US should have arrested ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – who blew himself up in a tunnel in Syria during a raid last month.
Donald Trump said al-Baghdadi – the world’s most wanted man – “died like a dog” as he fled US special forces but Mr Corbyn today cast a doubt on the President’s version of events.
He said: “If it would have been possible to arrest him, I don’t know the details of the circumstances at the time.
“I have only seen various statements put out by the US about it…surely that would have been the right thing to do. If we want to live in a world of peace and justice we should practice it as well.”
Mr Corbyn – who was branded a “terrorist sympathiser” today by a Church of Scotland minister during an election campaign visit – said he would have preferred to see the ISIS leader face trial.
He had previously called it a “tragedy” 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was killed by the US rather than being put on trial.
He claimed the al-Qaeda warlord’s 2011 execution left the world a “more dangerous” place.
Speaking to LBC today Mr Corbyn said: “If it’s possible to arrest somebody and put them on trial, then that is what should have been done and that is what I said about the death [of Bin Laden] in 2011 and it would continue to be my principle.
“If we believe, as we do, in international law and justice and the power of the International Court of Justice, then we should everything we can to bring people, where they deserve to go trial, to be put on trial as was [Slobodan] Milosevic and others.”
However he admitted the ISIS chief being “removed from the scene” was a “very good thing”.
Mr Corbyn was criticised for his controversial stance by Tory election candidate Michael Fabricant.
He said: “So easy. ‘Well, Mr al-Baghdadi, we understand you are the military leader of ISIS. Please accompany me to the nearest police station.’ What planet is Jeremy Corbyn on?”
While Tory security minister Brandon Lewis said Mr Corbyns comments were yet more proof of his flawed judgement and inability to stand up to people who reject our values.
He added: “Every time he is given the opportunity to take the side of this country’s enemies he does so.
It comes after Mr Trump said the Labour boss would take Britain to “such bad places” if he were to win the December 12 election.
In an interview with Nigel Farage on LBC, the US President said: “Mr Corbyn would be so bad for your country, he’d be so bad, he’d take you in such a bad way.
“He’d take you into such bad places. But your country has tremendous potential, it’s a great country.”
But Mr Corbyn immediately fired back – accusing Trump of trying to interfere in the election to get his “friend” Boris re-elected.
Last month the President announced al-Baghdadi had “whimpered, cried and screamed like a coward” as he was cornered in a tunnel at his hideout before he detonated a suicide vest killing himself and three of his children.
The president triumphantly called it a “great night for the US and for the world” as they had brought the “world’s greater terrorist leader to justice”.
Mr Trump told how those involved in the raid “brought body parts” back with them, even though there “wasn’t much left” of al-Baghdadi’s body “but there are still substantial pieces that they brought back…they have his DNA, more of it than they want.”
Reacting to the news, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The death of Baghdadi is an important moment in our fight against terror but the battle against the evil of Daesh (ISIS) is not yet over.
“We will work with our coalition partners to bring an end to the murderous, barbaric activities of Daesh once and for all.”
Mr Corbyn’s intervention comes as he was branded a “terrorist sympathiser” today.
As he stopped to tell reporters about a scarf he was wearing, which had been given to him by representatives of the Who Cares Scotland charity, he was interrupted by Richard Cameron.
The minster at Scotstoun Parish Church shouted: “I thought you’d be wearing your Islamic jihad scarf.
“Do you think that the man who is going to be prime minister of this country should be a terrorist sympathiser, Mr Corbyn?
“Who’s going to be the first terrorist invited to the House of Commons when you’re prime minister?”
Mr Corbyn did not react to Mr Cameron, and was then ushered into the community centre by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard.
Mr Cameron then accused Mr Corbyn of “running away”.
On Monday a furious homeowner accused the Labour boss of being a “terrorist supporter” after activists turned up at his front door asking for his vote.
The Labour leader has previously been seeing wearing a Palestinian Keffiyeh scarf when attending events against Israeli military action on Gaza.
He was in Glasgow before heading to two Lanarkshire constituencies – despite senior party figures fearing “toxic” Mr Corbyns trip could backfire.
Mr Corbyn has also been repeatedly criticised for meeting the leaders of Sinn Fein in the 1980s and 1990s when the IRA was still conducting a terror campaign against the UK.
He also invited two convicted IRA volunteers to the House of Commons in October 1984 two weeks after an IRA bomb killed five people at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton.
Meanwhile at a meeting of Stop the War Coalition in Parliament in 2009, Corbyn referred to invited members of Hezbollah and Hamas as “friends”.
Both Hezbollah and the military wing of Hamas are considered terrorist organisations by the Government.
Mr Corbyn said the US should have tried to put al-Baghdadi on trial
Rubble above the site of the tunnel where al-Baghdadi is believed to have blown himself up, in northwestern Syria
