British Islamic State Terrorist Begs to Return to UK and Face Justice

A young terrorist who travelled to Syria to fight for Islamic State wants to return to the UK and face justice, it has been reported.

Shabazz Suleman, 21, disappeared on a family holiday in Turkey three years ago and was in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the terror state, until its recent capture.

The former grammar school pupil from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, told The Times he has become disillusioned with jihadism and chose to desert the terrorist group.

Via encrypted messages he claimed he went through “intense” indoctrination by the group, adding: “I never thought I was being brainwashed until I saw the way they treat other Sunnis.”

The terrorist, who is now thought to be in the hands of a Turkish militia, reportedly admits undergoing weapons training and carrying out guard duties, but denies taking part in killings.

His father, Afzal Suleman, 46, claimed that he knew “for a fact” that his son had become a civilian and had not been on the battlefield for two years.

“At the end of the day if he has committed a crime he should go to court. We just want him home,” he said.

Around half of the estimated 850 Britons believed to have gone to join the extremists are already thought to be back in the UK.

Last week, Max Hill, QC, the government’s watchdog on terrorism laws, said that teenagers who had “travelled [to join Isis] out of a sense of naivety, possibly with some brainwashing along the way” might not be prosecuted.

He claimed authorities “should be looking towards reintegration and moving away from any notion that we’re going to lose a generation thanks to this travel”.

Meanwhile, government minister Rory Stewart said the only way to deal with British Islamic State fighters in Syria is to kill them “in almost every case”.

“These are people who have essentially moved away from any kind of allegiance towards the British government,” he told BBC radio.

“They are absolutely dedicated, as members of the Islamic State, towards the creation of a caliphate, they believe in an extremely hateful doctrine which involves killing themselves, killing others and trying to use violence and brutality to create an eighth century, or seventh century, state.

“So I’m afraid we have to be serious about the fact these people are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them.”