Police: Jihadi bride will be arrested if she returns to UK
Top officer’s warning to Scot suspected of recruiting three London girls for Isis
THE Scottish woman who travelled to Syria to become a “jihadi bride”, and is suspected of recruiting three London schoolgirls to Islamic State (Isis), will be prosecuted if she returns to Britain, claims a senior Scotland Yard officer.
Aqsa Mahmood, 20, the daughter of a successful Glasgow businessman, is suspected of helping to recruit three London schoolgirls to Isis.
The woman, educated at private school, is alleged to have used Twitter to encourage acts of terrorism and is accused of urging British Muslims to carry out “another Woolwich”; a reference to the brutal May 2013 murder of off-duty soldier Lee Rigby by extremists.
Giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Mark Rowley, Assistant Commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, told MPs that Ms Mahmood’s case “is well-advanced in the work that is going on in terms of potentially prosecuting her if she ever returns”.
Ms Mahmood, from Pollokshields, is suspected of involvement in the disappearance last month of Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, both 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16. The trio, from Bethnal Green, East London, are said to have flown from Gatwick to Istanbul, then entered Syria to become jihadi brides.
The Mahmood family’s solicitor Aamer Anwar said they were “full of horror and anger their daughter may have had a role to play in the recruitment”.
But he was critical of Mr Rowley, saying: “It is extremely disturbing that Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley should use the Select Committee to publicly announce their work as ‘welladvanced’ in terms of prosecuting [her].
“One would hope that the Crown prosecution would have concerns on the right to a fair trial and anything being done to jeopardise due process.”
But Mr Anwar said there were more serious questions raised in relation to the case of the London schoolgirls.
“Aqsa’s family have repeatedly said their daughter was being monitored by the security services and police for over 15 months. If she was responsible for the recruitment and radicalisation of young girls, then why did the security services not share that information with the families before it was too late?” he asked.
The family solicitor said that Mr Rowley could have used his time before the Committee “more usefully by answering that question rather than grandstanding”.
Mr Anwar added: “Aqsa’s family [were] advised by my office some time ago of the likelihood of prosecution if she were to return to this country.
“They are deeply ashamed of their daughter and any role she may have played in the recruitment of these young girls but she is still their daughter and they would much prefer her back in Scotland alive than for her to die in Syria.”
A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “Our investigation into the circumstances surrounding Aqsa Mahmood continues to be a live inquiry and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Ms Mahmood’s parents contacted the police to report her missing in November 2013. It was subsequently discovered she had travelled to Syria, where she is believed to have married an Isis fighter.
At Westminster, MPs were told that the three schoolgirls were thought to have funded their flights from Britain to Turkey, costing more than £1000, by stealing jewellery from relatives.
In earlier evidence, relatives of the three girls demanded an apology from the Met for failing to hand letters from the police directly to them, warning parents about how a 15-year-old pupil had run away to Syria in December.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met Commissioner, apologised for failing to communicate more directly with the families of the three schoolgirls but said there was nothing more the force could have done to stop them leaving.
“In hindsight, we now know these girls were planning to go and neither the family, the police, the school nor anyone else realised that,” he said.
Earlier, Amira’s father Hussen Abase, Khadija’s cousin Fahmida Aziz and Shamima’s sister Sahima Begum said there were no indications the girls had been radicalised.
Ms Begum noted: “My sister was into normal teenage things.”
Elsewhere, Prime Minister David Cameron insisted no one institution should become a scapegoat for the schoolgirls’ disappearance, saying “everyone has a role to play” in preventing Britons from joining Isis.