A kid from Cardiff ditched his medicine degree to wage jihad with ISIS in Syria
Think being a medic is boring? Obviously the logical next step is to give insurgency a go!
Roisin LaniganA British 20-year-old is fighting with brutal terror group ISIS, just a year after choosing not to do medicine in the UK.
Nasser Muthana, now going by the name Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni, rejected offers from four top unis, instead travelling to Syria to join the militants, who are famed for posting videos of sickening beheadings and attacks on social media.
Muthana is one of three Britons featured in Isis’ new video, entitled “There is No Life Without Jihad”, which seeks to recruit more British Muslims to ISIS.
Between the speeches by Jihadists, an ISIS rally is shown in the video
Set against Qur’an chanting, the video calls for more British men to “answer the call and fight for Allah”. The video was removed for violating Youtube’s violence policy but has since been reposted.
He’s the one in the middle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj-mRhSeBp0
In the latest 13-minute video Muthana, seen as part of a group with other British men, explain their motivation for travelling to Iraq and Syria and try to persuade other British Muslims to give up “the fat job” and “the big car” to fight for Allah instead.
Muthana names Bangladesh, Cambodia, Australia and the UK as sources for ISIS recruits. Quoting from the Qur’an, the once promising Cardiff student claimed the group of ISIS fighters were able to enter Jordan and Lebanon “with no problems” and had set their sights on reconquering further “Muslim” lands.
ISIS is currently overrunning Northern Iraq, leaving the country in a civil war.
He says: “We are a state who is implementing the Sharia in both Iraq and the Sham. And look at the soldiers, we understand no borders.”
“We have participated in battles in Sham and we will go to Iraq in a few days and we will fight there.
“We will even go to Lebanon and Jordan with no problems, wherever our Sheikh (Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi) wants to send us.”
Another ISIS fighter shown alongside Muthana in the video claims that, “The cure for depression is jihad… Feel the honour we are feeling, feel the happiness we are feeling.”
“We know no borders” says British student Muthana, pictured centre.
His father, Ahmed Muthana, told the Daily Telegraph that his son had been accepted at four universities to study medicine but did not go.
Ahmed, who cried when he watched the footage of his son, said that he thinks Muthana become “brainwashed” and radicalised in the UK. Before disappearing to travel to Syria last November, Muthana had been a promising student and had previously gone to Cathays High School where he gained 11 GCSES.
He said: “I was devastated. His mother and I had no idea he was planning to do this.
“Nasser loved his home and his family, but also enjoyed it when I took him to go swimming and do karate. He was a big lad and was good at rugby.
“He was the kind of person who was a leader among his friends. People would listen to him.
“I feel sick and devastated my son is caught up in this – they were brought up to love and respect my country Britain. Now I fear they may come back in coffins.
“I’m worried about their safety. But I am also worried about the evil messages Nasser is spreading in this video – I am concerned that other boys may follow him there.
“I wish I could hold him, hold his hand, ask him to come back.
“As a father I give a message, not only to Nasser, to all the people that go from Britain to Syria to fight: please stop. Come back home.”
On Thursday the terror group was added to a list of banned organisations, making it an offence to be a member.