Brit ISIS terrorist in Syrian prison says he wants to be ‘rehabilitated’ in UK
A Brit who worked for six years as a recruiter for the terror group Islamic State has been tracked down to a Syrian prison where he said it’s his ‘human right’ to be allowed to return to the UK.
Aseel Muthana, 24, left Wales when he was 17-years-old to fight for ISIS in Syria and played a key role in encouraging other Brits to join him.
He’s spoken out about his time with the horrific terror group, describing crucifixions, beheadings and homosexuals being thrown from rooftops.
In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Aseel said he had ‘seen so much blood’ that executions and limbs being chopped became like mere entertainment.
But he also played down his involvement in terrorist activity and blamed his brother Nasser, who was killed in a drone strike in 2016, for leading him astray.
Appealing to his country of birth, he said: ‘I feel abandoned by the UK. I have human rights. I should be rehabilitated.
‘I mean, okay, let’s say I was a criminal – you can’t just leave me. It’s normal – for human rights. Even if I was a criminal I should be rehabilitated. Have some sort of contact with my family, my country.’
Aseel and Nasser left Butetown in Cardiff to join Islamic State in 2013, making Aseel one of the terror group’s longest serving British members.
He stayed with the group until last year when they were defeated by western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in Bargouz.
The Mirror tracked him down to Rojava state in north east Syria but he is being held in a prison in an undisclosed location with hundreds of other Isis fighters elsewhere.
Aseel has previously bragged on social media he was ‘100% pro’ the brutality used by ISIS, but told the Mirror his Twitter account was often used by his brother.
He said he was never present when violence was being enacted but reportedly claimed to have expressed regret that he’d never witnessed in person the horrific rooftop punishment used against homosexuals. He said: ‘I wanted to like, I guess, witness it. It’s curiosity killed the cat.’
He also told how he was 50 yards away when his brother, who was high on a US ‘kill list’ was hit by shrapnel from a drone strike and died.
He said: ‘I understand why he got droned. He was posing a threat to the West and UK, calling for attacks.
‘It’s the consequences, it is going to happen. It’s war. You don’t go to war and expect roses and petals to be thrown at you. You are going to get injured, going to get killed. What do you expect? I understand the consequences, the backlash.’
Aseel said after his brother died he turned away from ISIS and wanted to return to the UK. He repeatedly denied killing anyone and said his role was merely to work as a translator.
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