THE GRANITE CITY JIHADIST
Islamic militant raised in Aberdeen is f ighting in Syria
GRINNING as he poses with a fearsome antiaircraft gun, this is a young Scots Muslim who has swapped alcohol and nightclubs for holy war. The former Aberdeen schoolboy was identified yesterday as the third Briton in a chilling recruitment video for the hardline Al Qaeda-linked terror group ISIS. He was named as Abdul Raqib Amin by former acquaintances, who spoke of their shock at seeing the keen footballer and ‘hyper, energetic lad’ boast of waging jihad in Syria. Amin was filmed alongside fellow British extremists Reyaad Khan and Nasser Muthana, both 20 and from Cardiff, urging other Muslims to fight
for ISIS in the Middle East. Wearing wraparound sunglasses and a white scarf around his head, Amin – identified in the video as ‘Brother Abu Bara al Hindi’ – says: ‘Are you willing to sacrifice the fat job you’ve got, the big car you’ve got, the family you have? Are you willing to sacrifice this, for the sake of Allah? Definitely, if you sacrifice something for Allah, Allah will give you 700 times more than this.’
Speaking in front of the ISIS black flag, he adds: ‘All my brothers living in the West, I know how you feel. When I used to live there, in the heart you feel depressed. The cure for the depression is jihad.’
Amin was born in Bangladesh but settled in Scotland with his family as a child and went to school in Aberdeen.
As a teenager, he attended St Machar Academy. A member of Aberdeen’s Muslim community who knew him said: ‘He was more of a lad than a regular attendee at the mosque. He was a happy guy, played football. He was a good player and supported Aberdeen FC.
‘I remember him as a hyper person, energetic and loud... not the type of person you would expect to go and do this.’
He said the local Muslim community wanted to distance itself from Amin’s actions in Syria, adding: ‘We don’t want our community tainted because some idiot’s gone commando.’
Another former acquaintance, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said Amin had regularly been in trouble as a young teenager – but had later calmed down and been more ‘humble’ after becoming increasingly religious.
He could not understand how a young man who had grown up in Aberdeen had ended up fighting abroad and said no one he had spoken to could believe it when they saw Amin in the propaganda video.
‘I was shocked,’ he told the BBC last night. ‘It seemed utterly mad’.
The man said he believed Amin had come to the UK from Sylhet District in North-Eastern Bangladesh some years ago.
‘He came here when he was a younger child,’ he added. ‘He went to primary and secondary school here.
‘After that he was around in Aberdeen. He was a bit arrogant. A bit
‘He ended up in a lot of fights’
aggro, maybe something to prove. He ended up in a lot of fights.
‘But to learn he’s accepted religion in such an extreme way is a bit shocking. Shocking because he’s a youth from Aberdeen who’s ended up somewhere like that.’
He said he was worried that other young people would be enticed to follow the same path, but insisted he had never heard anything that would encourage radicalism at Aberdeen’s mosques.
The man claimed that Amin had enjoyed drinking alcohol and going to nightclubs and was often involved in fighting.
If any trouble or racial abuse came his way, he ‘sorted it out with his fists’.
He said he had not seen Amin for the past couple of years and believed that the f amily had moved to Leicester.
It is understood Amin lived in the Froghall Road area in North Aberdeen, near the city’s Mosque and I sl amic Centre and Aberdeen University.
Sheikh Ibrahim Alwawi, imam of the mosque, said last night: ‘We are shocked, like everyone else. We are co-operating with the authorities, as we always do.’
A man in his late twenties who attended the mosque with Amin, said: ‘He was a very nice guy. He would often bring food into the centre to share with the people.
‘I knew him well from the mosque, he would always greet me like a brother. When I moved here from Ghana, he tried to help me find accommodation.
‘I have no idea why he’s decided to do this. To me, it’s the wrong thing to do.’
Last night, leading Scottish Muslim Bashir Maan, a former Glasgow councillor, said: ‘Fortunately, in Scotland we haven’t had much experience of radicalisation. It’s been more associated with some areas in England.
‘It is worrying that someone from Aberdeen is involved in this kind of activity but I believe if he was radicalised in Aberdeen, it would have been online and not in the mosque.
‘Of course, it’s worrying that there are 500 young Britons fighting in Syria. But I don’t think those who are radical and who are calling for jihad are listened to in Scotland. People know that what they preach is against Islam.’
Earlier this week, it emerged that a Saudi cleric had preached at a mosque accused of radicalising some of the Britons fighting in Syria.
Mohammed al-Arifi, who has called for holy war to overthrow Bashar alAssad’s regime, spoke at Cardiff’s Al Manar centre. A Sunni Muslim, he has been accused of stirring up tensions with the rival Shia sect, reportedly calling it evil and accusing adherents of kidnapping, cooking and skinning children.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Cuddihy of the Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism unit at Police Scotland said: ‘Police Scotland is currently working with partners in UK law enforcement and the counter-terrorism network following the broadcast of a video encouraging involvement in the ongoing conflict in Syria. We are committed to keeping people safe and to that end we continue to advise against travel to the Syrian conflict zone.
‘In April, Police Scotland joined other UK police forces and the Association of Chief Police Officers in a campaign to discourage participation in the conflict and to support i nstead the humanitarian effort through UK-registered charities.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Scotland has robust measures in place to help safeguard people who may be vulnerable to radicalisation or at risk from any form of extremism.’