British Jihadi Accused of Syria War Crime

Footage has emerged appearing to show a British National committing a war crime in Syria. The video, uncovered by researchers at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), shows a man executing a prisoner. 

It was posted in Instagram by a man believed to be from London. The caption accompanying the video reads “Bashir Dogs”, and claims the killing was in retaliation to the killing of rebel fights.

Sky News reports that ICSR monitor hundreds of social media accounts controlled by jihadis, they have analysed the video and believe the executioner is British. They have come to this conclusion by comparing the man’s clothing, wristwatch and physique to videos in which a similar man speaks. His accent was then used to work out he was British.

The execution was carried out by Rayat al Tawheed, an affiliate of the Sunni jihadi movement ISIS, which controls large parts of Syria.

Shiraz Maher, a senior ICSR researcher based at King’s College London, said the killing of prisoners is a war crime in international law: “It’s incredibly serious. We believe the main characters involved with Rayat al Tawheed come from London.

“We have deduced this based on our discussions with foreign fighters, our extensive record-keeping of foreign fighter activity in Syria, and our maintenance of social network maps which allows us to plot activity and associations in a visual form.”

In other videos men with British accents express their disgust that British Muslims are not offering enough financial support to the families of jihadis. They claimed that “brothers” knew where the wives of jihadis lives but where wasting money on PS4’s and Nando’s instead of helping.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “This demonstrates why we have consistently called for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

“Horrific atrocities have been committed by both the Assad regime and by extremists. The international community must ensure that all those responsible are held to account.

“Our priority is to dissuade people from travelling, but any extremists should know we are prepared to take action to protect national security, and intelligence agencies and police are working to identify potential threats.”

There are thought to be 400 British fighters in Syria, it is been seen as a major national security risk to the United Kingdom. The Security Services remain fearful that young British Muslims are being radicalised at home and then travel to the war torn country.

It is widely thought that when they return they will have the skills required to mount attacks similar to the 7/7 attack, when home grown jihadis mounted a series of suicide bomb attacks against London’s transport network. 

As these fighters hold British Citizenship they have every right to return to the United Kingdom.

Follow Andre Walker on Twitter: @AndreJPWalker