British ice-cream seller who joined ISIS in 2014 begs to return home because he misses Cardiff and his mother
An ice-cream seller from Britain, who went to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria five years ago, has reportedly pleaded to come home because he misses his life in Cardiff and his mother.
The 22-year-old man, identified as Aseel Muthana from Wales, left for Syria in February 2014 following his brother Nasser and another friend who joined the militant terrorist group. Muthana reportedly left for Syria at the age of 17.
The statement from the 22-year-old comes days after he was found in a prison camp in northern Syria. His family had reportedly feared that he had died, and now Muthana's mother has backed his plea to come home.
Muthana, while speaking to ITV News from his prison, claimed that he traveled to Syria because he wanted to "help the poor".
"Back then when I first came to ISIS, you have to understand I came way before the caliphate was pronounced," he said.
"Before all of these beheading videos, before all of the burnings happened, before any of that stuff. We came when ISIS propaganda and ISIS media was all about helping the poor, helping the Syrian people," he said.
Muthana's plea to return to the UK comes just days after Home Secretary Priti Patel said that 19-year-old 'ISIS bride' Shamima Begum will not be allowed in the UK.
Begum made headlines four years ago after she fled the UK from Gatwick Airport to Turkey along with her friends Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. The trio reportedly told their parents they were going out for the day.
Begum, who is now 19, was tracked down to a refugee camp earlier this year in Northern Syria where she, in a reported, said: "All I want to do is come back to Britain."
Begum's first two children died from illness and malnutrition and she is now concerned about her unborn child. She reportedly married a Dutch ISIS fighter named Yago Riedijk three weeks after she arrived in Syria.
This comes days after another ISIS bride, matchmaker Tooba Gondal who recruited Shamima Begum, also begged to return to the UK.