I was tricked into joining Isil, says NHS doctor
Aformer NHS doctor held in Syria for alleged links to Isil has pleaded with British authorities to repatriate him to face trial in the UK, claiming he was tricked into travelling into jihadist territory. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph from detention in Syria, Muhammad Saqib Raza, a 40-year-old surgeon from Leicester, said he went to Turkey for a business deal that ended with him being unknowingly recruited by Isil and crossing the border.
“Maybe parts of my story don’t make sense, but I can’t change it to be more sensible,” said Mr Raza. “I can say that Isil has a sick ideology ... I was disgusted by things I saw them do.”
The Pakistani-born father-of-one, who was accused of attempting to radicalise colleagues at a number of NHS hospitals, yesterday pleaded for British authorities to bring him “home”. “Britain is my home. I respect British law. There, there is justice,” he said.
He is one of thousands of suspected foreign members of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) captured in northern Syria but the instant we meet, it is clear that Muhammad Saqib Raza is no ordinary member of the jihadist caliphate.
Erudite and well-spoken with unaccented English, Raza is at pains to present himself as a liberal Muslim, not afraid to shake a woman’s hand and hold eye contact, unlike many of the more fanatical Isil suspects held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The act – if that is what it is – seems to come easily to Raza, a Pakistaniborn former NHS doctor who is among a handful of UK citizens detained in Syria and accused of links to Isil.
But unlike other Britons detained in Syria, Raza has a different story to tell – claiming he was the victim of an elaborate kidnap plot that unwittingly led him deep into the caliphate.
“Maybe you will believe me, maybe you won’t,” he told The Daily Telegraph during a two-hour interview yesterday, sitting under the harsh fluorescent light of a holding cell.
It is not clear if Raza will ever face trial in front of a British jury. But if he did, his defence is well rehearsed.
“As a doctor I was very moved by what was happening in Syria, but I never wanted to go over there,” he said. “I was not brave enough.”
Raza, 40, tells a convoluted story that starts with him leaving the UK for Turkey in the summer of 2016 to escape a broken marriage and a £200,0000 dowry payment he would have owed to his wife’s family in the event of a divorce.
Raza, who moved to Leicester in 2008, claims he travelled to Istanbul to buy a property. While he was out for dinner one night at a restaurant, he says he was approached by a man who turned out to be an Isil handler.
“We started chatting and he found out about me and he said, ‘Wow, I’m a recruiter of doctors in Turkey’,” Raza said. “He told me my services could be used at a hospital, he told me other foreign doctors were there and that Turkey had no problem with us entering Syria.”
He said he did not realise the man was working with Isil. “I thought it would look good on my CV, he sold me an opportunity,” he said.
He says he crossed over with the handler’s help and was expecting to work in a medical facility under the control of the Turkish government in the border town of Jarablus.
At that time, when Isil’s selfdeclared caliphate was at its height, a British citizen crossing the tense frontier between Turkey and Syria would likely have aroused suspicion.
From there, he said he was taken to neighbouring Idlib province, where he was held for three months before being sent to Hama in central Syria and then on to Raqqa. He claimed to have been forced by the jihadists to attend an Islamic studies course in Raqqa, in the heart of Isil’s caliphate.
He said he first became aware of Isil in 2013, but described their “version of Islam” as “sick”.
He claimed that he tried to escape, but was caught by Isil and imprisoned, and that he was beaten but eventually released. He added that he saw Isil torture civilians and was repulsed by it. “I saw a hand being cut and I wanted to vomit. I saw heads of SDF fighters,” he said. “I was disgusted.”
He claimed never to have treated any patients during his more than 18 months in Isil territory, despite his experience as an NHS doctor, and denied taking part in any fighting. He was eventually captured by SDF fighters during the battle for Raqqa in January. “What can I say? I am a naive person,” he said. “I shouldn’t have believed the people who took me to Syria.” The story is compellingly told, but Raza’s self-portrayal as an openminded Muslim who was duped into a nightmare leaves out some troubling and perhaps contradictory details.
The Daily Telegraph earlier this week found General Medical Council records that showed Raza was cleared of misconduct in 2015 after he was accused of trying to out a gay Muslim colleague to their family. “He was a good friend,” Raza said, responding to the reports. “I had a disagreement with him but not because he was gay. My profession is my religion.”
Former colleagues and neighbours also paint a less than flattering portrait of the doctor. They allege that he was reported to medical authorities for attempting to radicalise colleagues at the NHS trust where he worked. Neighbours in Leicester say he had grown increasingly conservative in the years before he left the UK, growing his beard long and attending mosque more often and that he told them that he had grown to resent life in the UK.
But Raza is not deterred. “I was in Syria with Isil against my will,” he said.
The SDF is holding six British Isil fighters in a detention centre in an undisclosed location in northern Syria.
Their future is a political hot potato. The SDF, which is holding nearly 1,500 foreign Isil suspects, says it will not try the men in Syria nor will they be held indefinitely.
The UK is resisting the repatriation of British Isil suspects, including two “Beatles” jihadists, citing fears of a security threat. But Raza’s story illustrates the legal and evidentiary challenges that could make securing prosecutions difficult.
El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexander Kotey, who grew up in west London, have been accused of being part of one of Isil’s most evil execution squads.
‘I never thought I could fall into this situation. I shouldn’t have believed the people who took me to Syria’
But despite a large quantity of evidence, British legislation meant it would be difficult to bring them to justice in the UK.
In 2014, the pair were stripped of their British citizenship, but it was also anticipated that there would be problems in using evidence gathered from a foreign battlefield.
The Government is seeking to address the problems surrounding prosecuting foreign fighters by introducing extra powers in the new Counter Terror Bill.
“I have been here for 10 months, they have nothing on me. My Whatsapp messages will prove my innocence,” Raza said, citing conversations with his handler.
He said he had been questioned by American intelligence officials, but not British. Whether British authorities believe his story remains to be seen, but he tells it with the confidence of a trained doctor and former actor he claims to have been back in Pakistan.
“Maybe parts of my story don’t make sense, but I can’t change it to be more sensible,” he said. “I love Britain, Britain is my home. I respect British law, there is justice.”
Raza pleaded with British authorities to repatriate him to face justice in the UK. “Britain would lose a good doctor,” he said.
“I never knew Britain might one day abandon me. But everyone deserves a second chance.”