Published 19:14 IST, October 6th 2019
ISIS' Jihadi Jack spotted in secret Syrian prison on TV by parents
"Jihadi Jack" the British terror suspect was spotted lying in a crouching position in a Syrian prison, by his parents
- World News
- 3 min read
"Jihadi Jack" the British terror suspect was spotted lying in a crouching position in a Syrian prison. Jack Letts, wearing an orange jumpsuit, was recognised on a US news channel last week by his parents.
The Muslim convert, who declared himself as "enemy of Britain" left his home in Oxfordshire to join ISIS in the Middle East in 2014 was ripped off his British citizenship. However, Letts, who held dual citizenship is still a Canadian citizen. Justin Trudeau's Canadian government said the UK had "off-loaded" its responsibilities.
Lett denied being a fighter, criticised IS as "un-Islamic" on social media and escaped from Raqqa, the capital of caliphate in May 2017, according to an international report.
As per the footage filmed in a secret prison, Letts is reportedly locked up in Syria's Qamishli prison, without a trial.
His mother told an international news media network, "It's worse than my worst nightmares. If there is evidence he has committed a crime, then bring him home and put him on trial, and if he is guilty, send him to prison. But he has been in this limbo for two-and-a-half years with no end in sight."
The UK Home Office has dismissed Lett's mother's plea for him to be allowed to return to Britain and faced trial in the country.
Jihadi Jack's parents were accused of funding terrorism, after the couple sent £223 to their son in June 2015, defying police warnings of Lett joining ISIS. The couple, however, refused to admit that their son had joined the terror organisation.
Letts left opulent life in Britain to join the ISIS in Syria but was later captured by Kurdish forces while trying to flee to Turkey in 2014, after the caliphate collapsed in the country. However, after being captured, he said that he had "no intention of blowing up Britons."
In occasional letters to his parents, Jihadi Jack, writing about his experience said that he was being held in a mass cell, with no access to exercise or outdoors, where they are boiling in summers and freezing in winters.
ISIS fighters in Syrian jails
Images published by international news media divulged the grim reality of people locked up in Syrian jails. In Kurdish-controlled North-West Syria, along with 'Jihadi Jack,' around 12,000 ISIS terrorists are held in cramped prisons, with no space to lie, along with their heads and beards are shaved.
According to reports, the male ISIS members are kept in secret prisons, while women and children are kept in camps.
Updated 19:27 IST, October 6th 2019