Yahoo News British Islamic State fighter: 'We would never have come if we'd known the realities of Isis'
A British fighter has claimed he did not know the “realities” when he left the UK to join Isis to fight in Syria.
Hamza Parvez, who fought for the Muslim extremists for five years, claimed that foreign fighters were often misled when they joined Isis.
Parvez, originally from west London, is currently in the hands of Kurdish fighters in Syria after he was captured among Isis recruits.
He said: “If you was to ask me would I agree to go and join the groups which consists of one, two, three and four…”
At this point interviewer Quentin Sommerville interjects to clarify Parvez means rape, genocide, enslavement and murder, before Parvez continues “Anyone in their right mind would have never ever ever gone over to join something of that calibre. I did not know something was waiting for me like that.
“Most of the foreign fighters when they do step in and you do talk to them, the first thing they say to you is that we would have never come if we had known the realities of Isis.”
But it was not only the extreme violence used by Isis which Parvez says was difficult, he also claims westerners who had joined so-called Islamic State were isolated dueto fear of drone strikes.
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Speaking to the BBC, he said: “A lot of the westerners were kept distances from one another, one of the primary affairs were targetted drone strikes.
“People would not want to be associated with one another because they would not have the list or know who is on the list or not.
“There were many times I thought ‘it’s time to pack up’ and many more times I did try to pack up and leave but the reality was it is not as easy as it sounds.
“It’s a small group of very big fish which make all of the decisions for all of the people.
“They could be life or death decisions, decision which change peoples lives completely.”
