ISIS Threatens To Kill British Deserters Who Want To Return Home From Fighting In Middle East
ISIS have just issued death threats against a number of British-born fighters who joined their ranks in Syria and Iraq, and who have helped to establish the Islamic State “Caliphate” in the region.
The Observer in Britain reported over the weekend that there are British people within ISIS who have become disillusioned with their cause since leaving the relative comfort of their homes and families in Britain and want to make a hasty return home.
According to that report, “There are Britons who upon wanting to leave have been threatened with death, either directly or indirectly.”
Former Guantánamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg told the publication, that there are at least 30 British militants fighting for ISIS who want to return home as soon as possible, adding that they are currently being held in Syria and Iraq against their will.
The new report comes following news of the death of yet another young British Muslim, Muhammad Mehdi Hassan, 19, who was reportedly killed in the battle to claim control over the Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobane. Hassan was the fourth Briton to die in Syria as a result of the fighting there.
Naturally, the British government have taken steps recently to legislate the trying of returning ISIS militants, but Begg told the Observer that in his opinion that was not a good idea, “When it becomes solidified as an Islamic State, a caliph, and you swear allegiance, thereafter if you do something disobedient you are now disobeying the caliph and could be subject to disciplinary measures which could include threats of death or death.”
Adding that many Brits are “stuck between a rock and a hard place. There are a large number of people out there who want to come back. The number in January was around 30, that was the number given to me. That number has definitely increased since,” he said.
According to King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR,) there are an estimated 500 Britons who have travelled to Iraq and Syria, 24 of which have been killed.
