The family home of a British fighter, who died in Syria, is currently being raided by police.
Abdullah Deghayes from Brighton died last month fighting alongside Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra against Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
Abu Bakr Deghayes, father of Abdullah, spoke to advocacy group CAGE by phone from the confines of a small room inside his home that he says he and his family have been forced to remain in until the raid is over. He said that the raid began at 7am this morning and that he expects it to last into the evening.
Abu Bakr Deghayes said: “It’s very upsetting and frustrating. If there was another way to deal with this I would have happily complied. I just can’t understand why they would put my family through this.”
Abdullah was the nephew of Omar Deghayes who was held by the United States as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay detention camp from 2002 until 2007 after being arrested in Pakistan. Omar Deghayes was released without charges and returned to Brighton where he lives.
Asim Qureshi, Director of Research at CAGE, said: “This is yet another example of the criminalisation of those that are connected with the Syrian conflict in any way, even when there is no evidence of criminality. Despite their openness and transparency and their still mourning the loss of a much-loved son, the Deghayes family now have to go through the whole ordeal of being targeted like criminals.”
In total, it is believed that 400 British nationals have travelled to Syria since conflict broke out in early 2011, and of these 400, it is estimated 20 have died so far.
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The Foreign Secretary William Hague has reiterated warnings to British citizens not to travel to Syria and said fighters returning to the UK were an “increasing threat to our own national security”.
“Where we are aware of people proposing to travel to Syria we can take action about it, including depriving people of their passports, including if they are people who are resident in the UK but not British nationals, the Home Secretary can cancel their leave to remain in the UK,” he said.
