Sunday, July 17, 2016

Tesco worker who joined ISIS in Syria pleaded with British authorities to be allowed to return to UK so his sick son could get NHS treatment, court hears

  • Musadikur Rohaman joined ISIS but pleaded with UK authorities to return
  • 27-year-old asked for help because new-born son needed NHS treatment
  • He and wife told family they were going on holiday but did not come back
  • Two brothers and friends accused of sending cash for terrorist purposes
On trial: Tesco worker Musadikur Rohaman, 27, who joined ISIS pleaded with the British authorities to help him return home because his new-born son needed treatment on the NHS, a court has heard
On trial: Tesco worker Musadikur Rohaman, 27, who joined ISIS pleaded with the British authorities to help him return home because his new-born son needed treatment on the NHS, a court has heard
Tesco worker who joined ISIS pleaded with the British authorities to help him return home because his new-born son needed treatment on the NHS, a court has heard.

Musadikur Rohaman, 27, and his wife Zohura Siddeka, 27, both from Walsall in the West Midlands, told his family they were going on holiday to Turkeyfor a week in December 2014 and never came back.

They received £10,000, after his brothers sold off his wife's gold jewellery and his BMW and collected his wages from the supermarket and her maternity pay as a teaching assistant, jurors were told.

The two brothers and two friends are accused of sending the money knowing that it was to be used for terrorist purposes.

Giving evidence against them, their older sister, Nargis Ali, 42, said she told police her brother was becoming 'more and more 
desperate' and was 'losing hope' and that he 'wanted the UK authorities to assist him.'

The court heard her brother in Syria told her: 'It's really difficult, I don't know how to get out and if I do get caught, I'm afraid I'll be sent to jail or forced to fight.'

In a discussion on August 1 last year, Musadikur added: 'You know, they put me in prison here, every time I inquire to leave, for three weeks, a couple of times.'

His wife had fallen pregnant in March 2015 and he told his sister: 'Since Zohura got pregnant I've been trying harder.'

When she gave birth to a baby son, the child had a congenital heart defect and Mrs Ali said: 'I had been encouraging them to come home and Musadikur and Zohura, both of them wanted to come home because they needed medical treatment for their son.'

He had told another sister that it was a 'mistake to go but he talked himself into it, thinking it was the right thing to do,' Nigel Lambert QC, defending, said.

'He wanted to try and adapt but couldn't and wanted to come back because he knew it was wrong.'

Musadikur had also been injured in a drone attack when shrapnel struck his right hand and the bones were broken.

Musadikur Rohaman, 27, and his wife Zohura Siddeka (pictured), 27, told his family they were going on holiday to Turkey and never came back
Mohammed Suyaubur Rohaman (pictured), 32, is accused of funding terrorism
Musadikur Rohaman, 27, and his wife Zohura Siddeka , 27, told his family they were going on holiday to Turkey and never came back. Mohammed Suyaubur Rohaman , 32, is accused of funding terrorism
Family business: Pictured is the All Season Launderette in Walsall, where brother's Mohammed Hussain and Mohamed Rohaman worked. The pair are accused of funding terrorism
Family business: Pictured is the All Season Launderette in Walsall, where brother's Mohammed Hussain and Mohamed Rohaman worked. The pair are accused of funding terrorism
Mohammed Atiqur Rahman Khan
Maruf Uddin
Hussain, 26, and Mohammed Rohaman, 32, who both lived in the family home in Walsall are accused along with two friends, Mohammed Atiqur Rahman Khan , 27, and Maruf Uddin , 26, of funding terrorism

In a message on June 27, Mrs Ali told Musadikur: 'Been praying day and night for your safety and your protection, at least you will be out of harms way, even if you are hurt.

'I told mum bout your injury, to make dua [pray] for you. She's really upset. She's saying, if you don't want to come back to UK, got to Bangladesh and she will go there. Mum asking, are they treating you well at the hospital, do you have to pay for it?'

He replied, referring to a character from Marvel comics: 'The doctor talked me through the operation, basically got to have rods in my fingers until it heels [sic], so I'll look like Wolverine lol.

 Got to stay in until my bones heal back in sha Allah.'

Mohammed Iqbal Hussain allegedly sold his brother's BMW, watch and wedding outfit to raise cash for him while he was fighting for ISIS in Syria
Mohammed Iqbal Hussain allegedly sold his brother's BMW, watch and wedding outfit to raise cash for him while he was fighting for ISIS in Syria
It was not until July 18, that he announced: 'I've spoke to mum and have some good news to share with the family.

 In sha Allah, Shuhana and me are expecting our second child.'

Their first child had died during surgery in Britain for the same heart defect just ten days after he was born the previous October, and Siddeka had continued to receive maternity pay.

Musadikur had also been badly affected by the death of his father, who ran the family laundrette and dry cleaning business, from a heart attack a year earlier.

Mrs Ali said: 'I just wanted him to come back, because of his emotional and mental state. He left in a devastated state after my dad passed away and his son passed away.

'I didn't know how he was coping, I just wanted him to come home, so we could all be together.'

Mrs Ali admitted that she believed her brother was in Syria, but said she believed he was working as a policeman.

In one exchange, he told her: 'I made my first bust yesterday. Not to [sic] exciting, but caught someone smoking. 

You police ppl for smoking, we all kind of police, but there's police officer anyway.

'I confiscated all the cigarettes and gave him naseeha [advice] and broke the cigarettes in front of him. It's haraam [forbidden] to smoke.'

Another sister, Rokhfa, told him: 'Don't be cruel and don't let the power get to u.'

Mohammed Iqbal Hussain, 26, and Mohammed Suyaubur Rohaman, 32, who both lived in the family home in Walsall are accused along with two friends, Mohammed Atiqur Rahman Khan, 27, and Maruf Uddin, 26, of funding terrorism.

Hussain was said to be Musadikur's 'principal point of contact' because he allegedly shared his brother's mindset and wanted his fiancée to go with him to the so-called Islamic State.

Rohaman allegedly made the transfers via Western Union and Khan, a childhood friend of Musadikur, and Uddin, a trainee accountant, agreed to sell items on eBay.

The defendants deny the charges and the trial continues.


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