A British Bangladeshi boy who joined the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group a few years ago before becoming disillusioned with it wants to return to the UK.Ashraf Mahmud Islam, who was born in east London in 1996, said he went with the idea of helping the people of Syria. But as the violence increased, he decided to surrender to anti-ISIS Kurdish forces and has been held by them for the last 10 months.
He now wants to return to Britain, where he was born. But the UK Home Office has issued a formal notification of revoking his British citizenship for engaging in terrorist activity.
"The reason for the decision is that is it assessed that you are a British/Bangladeshi dual national who has travelled to Syria and is aligned with ISIL [Islamic State]," former UK home secretary Amber Rudd’s letter issued to Islam earlier this year reads.
"It is assessed that your return to the UK would present a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom,” it adds.
However, the 22-year-old, who is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2015, says that Britain is the only home he has known and is even willing to spend time in jail as long as he is allowed to return.
"I never made any videos against the UK, I never did anything against the UK. I realise I made a mistake and I want to go back," he was recently seen saying in an interview with the UK’s ITV news channel.
Under human rights laws, the UK can revoke someone’s citizenship as long as the person has an alternate nationality to fall back upon and is not made “stateless” by the withdrawal of his or her British citizenship.
A UK Home Office statement said: "Any British Citizen may be deprived of his or her citizenship if the Secretary of State [home secretary] is satisfied that it would be conducive to the public good, for example where they pose a threat to national security, unless to deprive would render them stateless."
Ashraf Mahmud Islam’s legal representatives claim the UK government’s order will in fact render him stateless as he will "not be entitled to Bangladesh nationality by descent" or gain citizenship. They also say that he cannot fairly contest the order because he remains in detention and want him to be "given leave to enter the UK" for effective legal action.
In a statement, a family member said Islam was "brainwashed” and that he has since regretted his actions in letters sent to relatives.
"All we want is Ashraf to come back home safely," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the YPG Kurdish forces holding him in detention have indicated that they want all ISIS captives to be taken back to where they came from and are keen for the UK government to take their national back.