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Iraq crisis: Isis video calls on British Muslims to join in jihad as ‘cure for depression’ | Iraq crisis: Isis video calls on British Muslims to join in jihad as ‘cure for depression’ |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Militants behind the jihadist advance in Iraq launched a fresh attempt to attract foreign recruits yesterday with a video featuring apparently British fighters urging their compatriots to join them. | Militants behind the jihadist advance in Iraq launched a fresh attempt to attract foreign recruits yesterday with a video featuring apparently British fighters urging their compatriots to join them. |
The film posted by Isis showed five men claiming to be British and Australian jihadists calling for Western Muslims to head for Syria and Iraq. | The film posted by Isis showed five men claiming to be British and Australian jihadists calling for Western Muslims to head for Syria and Iraq. |
In a sign of the growing sophistication of its propaganda operation, Isis said it was aiming to get one billion Muslims to post messages of support for a hardline Islamist state on social media as part of an effort to advance its cause. The video followed a warning this week from Prime Minister David Cameron that Isis was planning attacks in Britain. | In a sign of the growing sophistication of its propaganda operation, Isis said it was aiming to get one billion Muslims to post messages of support for a hardline Islamist state on social media as part of an effort to advance its cause. The video followed a warning this week from Prime Minister David Cameron that Isis was planning attacks in Britain. |
The 13-minute video, entitled “There is no life without jihad”, showed a group of foreign Isis recruits – including three claimed Britons – explaining their motivation for travelling to Iraq and Syria and seeking to persuade British Muslims to give up “the fat job … the big car”. | The 13-minute video, entitled “There is no life without jihad”, showed a group of foreign Isis recruits – including three claimed Britons – explaining their motivation for travelling to Iraq and Syria and seeking to persuade British Muslims to give up “the fat job … the big car”. |
Set to a soundtrack of Koranic singing, the film eschews gory images of atrocities and presents instead a call to leave behind the West and join a “pure” Islamic state built on sharia. One apparently British fighter named as “Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni – from Britain”, named Bangladesh, Cambodia, Australia and the UK as sources for Isis recruits. He said: “We will go to Iraq in a few days, and we will fight there.” | Set to a soundtrack of Koranic singing, the film eschews gory images of atrocities and presents instead a call to leave behind the West and join a “pure” Islamic state built on sharia. One apparently British fighter named as “Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni – from Britain”, named Bangladesh, Cambodia, Australia and the UK as sources for Isis recruits. He said: “We will go to Iraq in a few days, and we will fight there.” |
Another alleged Briton, named as “Abu Bara al-Hindi”, made it clear the group had in its sights disillusioned or vulnerable Muslims who could be persuaded to swap the trappings of Western life for a religious war. The man said: “Are you willing to sacrifice the fat job you’ve got? The big car you’ve got?” He added: “The cure for depression is jihad… Feel the honour we are feeling, feel the happiness we are feeling.” | Another alleged Briton, named as “Abu Bara al-Hindi”, made it clear the group had in its sights disillusioned or vulnerable Muslims who could be persuaded to swap the trappings of Western life for a religious war. The man said: “Are you willing to sacrifice the fat job you’ve got? The big car you’ve got?” He added: “The cure for depression is jihad… Feel the honour we are feeling, feel the happiness we are feeling.” |
The Home Office said it wanted to restrict access to such videos, adding: “We do not tolerate the existence of online terrorist and extremist propaganda, which directly influences people who are vulnerable to radicalisation. | The Home Office said it wanted to restrict access to such videos, adding: “We do not tolerate the existence of online terrorist and extremist propaganda, which directly influences people who are vulnerable to radicalisation. |
Ahmed Muthana, the father of Nasser Muthana, told ITV News that watching footage of his son had made him cry. | |
"I wish I could hold him, hold his hand, ask him to come back," he said. | |
"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." | |
Mr Muthana told the Daily Telegraph that his son had been accepted at four universities to study medicine but did not go, and he had not heard from him since November. | |
In February, the younger brother also disappeared after it is thought he applied for a second passport. | |
"To be honest, I don't agree with him but I don't know what he has been taught in his mind," he said. | |
"Of course I fear he will be injured or die fighting but I can do nothing. They are conservative Muslim, they don't have girlfriends, they don't talk to girls." |
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