Islamic State should be treated in same way as paedophiles, says lawyer for family of Scottish jihadi
BY ANDREW WHITAKER
ALEADING human rights lawyer has said gangs seeking to recruit young Britons to fight for Islamic State should be targeted in the same way as paedophiles grooming children in the wake of the reported death of Kadiza Sultana, a student from London who joined the terror group in Syria last year.
Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Aamer Anwar said Isis “should be viewed on a par with paedophiles” as he cited attempts to radicalise UK youths online, persuade them to leave their homes, and marry the group’s fighters.
Anwar is the solicitor of the family of Glasgow-born jihadi Aqsa Mahmood, who ran away to Syria in November 2013 to join Isis and is said to have inspired Sultana, 17, and her friends Amira Base and Shamima Begum, who were both just 15 when they fled London in February 2015 for Raqqa – the terror group’s stronghold city. Young people such as Sultana and Mahmood had been trafficked by Isis operatives, according to Amar, who is well known for his campaigns such as those on behalf of the family of murdered Indian waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar.
Last night, Anwar told how Mahmood’s family are experiencing a “living death” over their daughter, who since running away as a 19-yearold has married an Isis terrorist and promoted the group’s brutal ideology on social media under the name Umm Layth. Anwar spoke as it was reported this week that Sultana was killed when her home in Raqqa was hit by a bomb believed to have been dropped by a Russian plane.
The Glasgow-based solicitor said the family of Mahmood did not want to speak publicly about the death of the Bethnal Green schoolgirl who had been living in Syria after leaving the UK capital to join Isis.
However, Anwar said the family of Mahmood, who attended a private school in Glasgow, were in a constant state of fear about the threat to their daughter’s life and claimed there was a lack of public sympathy for the parents of British jihadi youths. He said: “Asqa’s family are experiencing an almost like living death existence. They love their child, but every knock of the door and every phone call brings home the possibility that their daughter is dead. There is no support for these families and no-one usually sympathises with them, but the real question is how do we stop Isis trying to recruit young people.”
Anwar’s remarks came as he was asked about the reported death of Sultana, who is said to have become disillusioned with life in the medieval terror state and was making plans to flee back to Britain. Her family were communicating with her from their east London flat to discuss how she might leave Raqqa and cross the border into Turkey, where they hoped to be reunited with the former schoolgirl. But it is believed Sultana was killed before she could flee after the property she was staying in was obliterated by the airstrike in May.
Anwar said: “In terms of the girl dying, it’s a tragedy and although a lot of people go on about how they knew what they were doing, the truth is that we are talking about vulnerable young people being groomed.”
However, the lawyer blasted the UK’s Prevent counter-terrorism strategy in UK schools that is aimed at stopping more people getting drawn towards violent extremism.
Schools have a legal obligation, known as the “Prevent Duty” to spot and report individuals who might be vulnerable to radicalisation. Schools have to assess the risk of pupils being drawn into extremist ideologies and schools must ensure pupils do not access extremist material online.
Anwar said the most effective way to combat attempts to encourage teenagers to abscond from their homes to join the ranks of Isis was for the police, security agencies and the Government to pursue the cases in the same way as they would childabuse investigations.
He said: “Isis should be viewed on a par with paedophiles as they carry out grooming of young people.
“We should treat this as a grooming issue and use the same tools that we use to fight paedophilia, as these young people are being trafficked to fight for Isis.
“We need to use the same tools to shut it down and have dedicated squads with expertise that go into areas where there is a problem, just as you would with the paedophile issue.
“If they had been sexually abusing children in Manchester or Rochdale there would be an uproar with screaming headlines about Muslims and grooming, but we don’t get this with the IS targeting young people even though it’s children who are being pursued.”
Anwar said governments had to launch an alternative approach to combat the Isis attempts to swell its ranks. The lawyer said disillusioned Isis recruits who had returned to