Friday, November 21, 2014

British jihadi bride warns her 'sisters' back in UK planning to travel to Syria not to be a 'homewrecker' and get their own extremist husband

  • Aqsa Mahmood fled Glasgow for Syria after marrying an Islamic extremist 
  • The 20-year-old former private schoolgirl posted series of tweets this week
  • Warned 'sisters' in Britain not to contact married men fighting for ISIS 
  • Advised would-be extremists to 'pack thermal clothing' before travelling 
  • Her messages are 'torture' for her parents 'trying to get on with their lives' 
A British jihadi bride has taken to Twitter to warn her 'sisters' back in the UK against contacting married men in Syria and to get their own militant husbands. 

Aqsa Mahmood, a 'bedroom radical' who travelled to Syria earlier this year, advised women thinking of joining extremists in the Middle East 'not to be a home wrecker' in a series of Twitter posts this week. 

Writing under an alias, the 20-year-old invited 'sisters' to use encrypted messaging services to make contact with those waging jihad abroad, but urged them not to ask questions 'already answered' in extremist blogs. 

Aqsa Mahmood, a British jihadi bride who travelled to Syria earlier this year, has been tweeting advice for 'sisters' in the UK 
The 20-year-old's parents said her messages were like 'torture'
Aqsa Mahmood, a British jihadi bride who travelled to Syria earlier this year, has been tweeting advice for 'sisters' in the UK 

Posting for the first time since threatening the West on the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, she wrote: ‘Sisters please for the sake of Allah contact the sisters whom [sic] are online.

'Also know the fact many brothers whom you contact and chat to are married.

 Have some self respect and don't be a homewrecker.' 

The messages come after a string of threats against the West were detailed in an online diary by the former student. 

As well as warning against contacting the husbands of female extremists, she told would-be militants to 'pack thermal clothing' if they intend to travel to Syria, where the winters are 'too much'.

'Bun (forget) Scotland, the winters here are too much. Sisters please don't forget to pack thermal clothing or you'll regret it later on,' she wrote. 

She also hinted at her whereabouts, making reference to the Syrian town of Manbij, north east of Aleppo.  

The 20-year-old posted a series of tweets from a Twitter account offering other female jihadists advice 
The 20-year-old posted a series of tweets from a Twitter account offering other female jihadists advice 
The former student also referred to a horse in the Syrian town of Manbij and tweeted this photograph 
The former student also referred to a horse in the Syrian town of Manbij and tweeted this photograph 

Today a spokesman for the 20-year-old's family said the posts were 'torturing' her parents. 

'The family are aware of recent tweets.

 The best advice they could offer Aqsa is to not to offer any advice to young Muslims to whom she is essentially offering a death sentence,' Aemar Anwar, the family's lawyer, said. 

'It's an extremely painful (situation) of mixed emotions - of extreme anger that their daughter has shamed them and shamed the community of Scotland.

'She has joined a cult that murders and tortures innocents.

 Yet again she's out there tweeting, attempting to take other children from their families.

'It's extremely difficult for her parents, not knowing whether she's dead or alive, wondering whether she will ever return home safely and added to that is the anger and shame at what she continues to do.

'What she claims to do in the name of Islam doesn't match with any of the values they taught her. 

A spokesman for the girl's parents Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood said Aqsa's continued messages is 'torturing' the couple who are trying 'to move on with their lives' 
A spokesman for the girl's parents Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood said Aqsa's continued messages is 'torturing' the couple who are trying 'to move on with their lives' 

'It's daily torture for them worrying about her yet having to get on with their lives. 

They have three other children to think about.

'She's gone now, but there's still this constant drip from Aqsa.' 

Mr Anwar added while her parents would still welcome the youngster back to the UK, the window of opportunity for her safe return is narrowing.

'She'll either be killed there by a drone or another militia. Or she can come home. 

'We publically stated that every case should be treated on a case by case basis, and it may well be the situation that the authorities will want to speak to her. 

'But if she was to face criminal sanctions it would be much better than what is likely a death sentence in Syria.  

Mahmood has not been seen by her family since fleeing their Glasgow home last November. In February, the former private schoolgirl married an extremist and began chronicling her life in the Middle East in a series of blog and Twitter posts. 

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: 'Enquiries are continuing into this matter.'

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