Aqsa Mahmood | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1993 |
| Died | February 2019 (aged 25–26) |
| Occupation | Student |
| Known for | Named on the UN sanctions list for activities relating to ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida |
Aqsa Mahmood (1993 - February 2019) was a citizen of the United Kingdom, from Glasgow, who stirred controversy in 2013 when she was one of the first UK women to voluntarily slip into Daesh territory, when she was 20 years old. [1] She was reportedly killed in February 2019 and has not been referenced or seen since.
Mahmood was born in Glasgow to Pakistani immigrant parents (her father Muzaffar was the first Pakistani to play cricket for the Scottish cricket team). [2] Mahmood attended Craigholme School and Shawlands Academy in Glasgow. [3] At the time she left the UK for Syria, she was taking a course in diagnostic radiography at Glasgow Caledonian University. [4]
Mahmood's parents believe she was convinced to join ISIL by Adeel Ulhaq. They found out Mahmood was communicating with Ulhaq in May 2013, and her father told him to leave her alone. That summer, Mahmood ran away from home and told her family she wanted to marry Ulhaq, but her family convinced her to postpone the decision to marry and to return home, as neither she nor Ulhaq had jobs and neither of them had completed their studies. [5] In November 2013, Asqa left for Syria and Daesh.
In 2015, Mahmood's family challenged the allegation that she played a role in recruiting three teenage girls, the Bethnal Green trio, to follow her example. [6] Mahmood's family stated she had told them she wasn't in touch with the girls and did not recognize their names. [7]
In April 2015, Mark Rowley, the Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations of the Metropolitan Police Service and the concurrent Chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council Counter-Terrorism Coordination Committee, [8] told the UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that security officials were close to compiling enough evidence to charge Mahmood, if she returned to the UK, or to request extradition, if she tried to settle elsewhere. [9]
On 28 September 2015 the United Nations placed her on its sanctions list, reserved for those with ties to Al Qaeda. [10] UK authorities rescinded her passport, to prevent her return to the United Kingdom. [11]
Ulhaq was never charged in connection with Mahmood's case. But in 2016, he and two other British men were convicted of preparation of terrorist acts and Ulhaq was also convicted of funding terrorism, for helping a 17-year-old boy, Aseel Muthana, join ISIL. [12] During the trial, Ulhaq testified that he had considered going to Syria to bring Mahmood, whom he called his ex-girlfriend, home.
In February 2019, The Mirror reported that Mahmood was believed to have died in the warzone. [13]
Police commissioner Mark Rowley told the Home Affairs Select Committee work was "well advanced" to prosecute 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood.
Aqsa Mahmood was listed on 28 September 2015 pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 of resolution 2161 (2014) as being associated with Al-Qaida for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of", "recruiting for" and "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq (QDe.115).
In one case, Aqsa Mahmood, 22, a suspected Isis recruiter from Glasgow, was stripped of her UK citizenship to prevent her return, The Times says.
Mahmood was 20 when she joined IS in 2013, inspiring other Brits to follow. She is believed to have been killed as the so-called IS caliphate crumbled.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)'She was the best daughter you could have,' her father told CNN in an exclusive interview last September. 'We just don't know what happened to her. She loved school. She was very friendly. I have never shouted at her all my life, all my life.'
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)