Syria-bound missing schoolgirl's father urges her not to fall into clutches of Isis
|
Version 0 of 1. The father of one of the London schoolgirls feared to be on her way to Syria has said her family “cannot stop crying” as he urged her not to fall into the clutches of Islamic State (Isis) militants. As British counter-terrorism officers were accused of failing to pick up on signs that the teenagers may have been radicalised online, the father of Amira Abase, 15, said she had never discussed an interest in jihadism with him but “maybe with friends”. Hussen Abase, 47, revealed that Amira had claimed she was going to a wedding on the day she went missing, but instead secretly met up with her Syria-bound friends. We love her and she’s our baby. We don’t want her to do anything stupid. She’s a sensible girl In a tearful video message to his daughter, Abase said: “We are depressed, and it’s very stressful. The message we have for Amira is to get back home. We miss you. We cannot stop crying. Please think twice. Don’t go to Syria.” Amira is feared to be heading towards Isis territory after catching a flight from Gatwick airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on 17 February with Shamima Begum, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, all her schoolfriends from Bethnal Green Academy in east London. Abase said Amira had been behaving “in a normal way” with “no sign to suspect her at all” before she disappeared. “She said ‘Daddy, I’m in a hurry’,” he said. Later that morning, she texted her father, who assumed she was going to the wedding. “She said, ‘Dad, the place is a little bit far. I pray my midday prayer and I get back’. She didn’t come home,” he said. The family reported her missing at midnight on Tuesday. Related: UK in 'ever-losing battle' over online radicalisation, says Lady Warsi Abase described his daughter’s actions as “completely nonsense” and said it had caused untold upset to her mother and younger brother and sister. He said his daughter had never spoken about an interest in jihad with him but “maybe with friends”. “She doesn’t dare discuss something like this with us. She knows what the answer would be,” he said. “If anyone doesn’t have hope, life would be miserable,” he said. “We don’t despair. We struggle. It’s stressful. We hope, of course.” The emotional video appeal came as British counter-terror agencies faced scrutiny after it emerged that Begum is thought to have made online contact with a Scottish woman who left Britain to marry an Isis fighter in 2013. The contact with Aqsa Mahmood, whose social media use is supposedly under surveillance by counter-terror agencies, came two days before Begum slipped out of her east London home and met up with her two schoolfriends. A Twitter account thought to be linked to Begum shows that she contacted Mahmood, a prominent online advocate of Isis, on 15 February, saying: “follow me so i can dm you back”. Aamer Anwar, a lawyer for Mahmood’s family, said on Sunday they were “incredulous” that the contact could go unnoticed by Scotland Yard and other counter-terror agencies. “We are aware from contact with Special Branch and the police that her social media contact is regularly checked and regularly monitored,” he told the BBC. “The idea that a young 15-year-old should make contact with Aqsa, who’s regarded as a terrorist, yet no action is taken – the family of that young girl do not have the customary knock on the front door. “The fact that these three girls manage to reach the airport – the common sense approach of Special Branch at the airport, the UK border agencies, don’t notice the fact that two 15-year-olds [and] a 16-year-old are unaccompanied, going on a flight to Turkey, the staging post to Syria, which is what Aqsa did herself and they aren’t stopped. “Obviously the family are deeply distressed and angry and they want answers because they’re thinking ‘how many other families is this happening to?’” Mahmood, who travelled through Turkey to Aleppo in Syria in November 2013, was criticised in a message from her family released on Sunday. “You are a disgrace to your family and the people of Scotland, your actions are a perverted and evil distortion of Islam,” it said. “You are killing your family every day with your actions, they are begging you stop if you ever loved them.” Shamima’s sister, Renu Begum, broke down in tears as she described how the teenager had been upset when her 15-year-old friend, who also went to Bethnal Green Academy, fled to Syria via Turkey in December. Shamima Begum and her two friends were interviewed by counter-terror officers at the time but Scotland Yard has said there was no sign the girls were intending to follow their other friend to the warzone. “We just hope that … maybe she’s gone to see her friend, talk some sense into her,” Renu said, adding that Shamima “knew that it was a silly thing to do” and that she did not know why her friend had done it. “We’re hoping she’s gone to bring her back. We’re hoping that it isn’t what has been said in the media, that she hasn’t been influenced in any way to do anything out of the ordinary.” She described Shamima as a “kind and caring person” who was “really, really intelligent”. “She was the most intellectually advanced out of all of us but she’s only young and young minds can easily be swayed,” she said. Breaking into tears, Renu Begum went on: “We love her and she’s our baby. We don’t want her to do anything stupid. She’s a sensible girl. We’re hoping she wouldn’t do anything that’s going to put her in any danger. We want her and her friends to be safe.” Scotland Yard said on Friday its interviews with the three missing girls were part of a routine inquiry and they were not put under any kind of surveillance. “There was nothing to suggest at the time that the girls themselves were at risk and indeed their disappearance has come as a great surprise, not least to their own families,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said. Detectives are investigating whether the girls have been in contact with their schoolfriend in an effort to cross the Turkish border into Syria. They are working closely with Turkish authorities in the hope that the snowy conditions in Istanbul may have disrupted their travel overland. On Saturday night, the families of the three girls issued emotional appeals for them to return home. Begum’s family said: “We miss you terribly and are extremely worried about you. Please, if you hear this message, get in touch and let us know you are safe. We want you home with us. You belong at home with us. Syria is a dangerous place and we don’t want you to go there. Get in touch with the police and they will help to bring you home. You are not in any trouble. “We understand you have strong feelings and want to help those you believe are suffering in Syria. You can help from home, you don’t have to put yourself in danger.” Kadiza’s family released a similar statement, which said: “We are not angry with you and you have not done anything wrong. We miss you terribly, especially Mum, and things have not been the same without you.” Amira’s family named the missing girl for the first time in a statement in which they also appealed for her to return home. The Abase family said: “Amira, we miss you so much, everyone, your family and your friends. “We want you to come home as soon as possible; all we are hoping for is you to come home safe, we love you so much. “Please come home Amira, everyone is missing you. You are strong, smart, beautiful and we are hoping you will make the right decision. “We miss you more that you can imagine. We are worried and we want you to think about what you have left behind.” Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, the chair of the Commons health committee, said she had “no sympathy for so-called A-grade girls travelling to Syria without doing their homework on IS [Isis] rape & murder of women”. She called for strict measures at the border to prevent under-18s from flying to Turkey without parental consent. On Twitter, she said: “Joining IS knowingly colludes with their grotesque mass murders, torture, enforced slavery & rape”. Joining IS knowingly colludes with their grotesque mass murders, torture, enforced slavery & rape. No one can claim not to know |