Nine 'brainwashed' British medical students head to Syria 'to help Islamic State'

 
Trip: Hisham Mohammed Fadlallah, Tasneem Suleyman Huseyin, Ismail Hamadoun, Rowan Kamal Zine El Abidine, Tamer Ahmed Ebu Sebah and Lena Maumoon Abdulqadir (Picture: BBC)
Rachel Blundy23 March 2015

Nine British medical students have travelled to Syria to work at hospitals in Islamic-state held areas - prompting fears they may have been "brainwashed" to support extremist militants.

The five men and four women, aged in their late teens and early 20s, are said to have travelled to Turkey earlier this month.

Some of their parents travelled to the Turkish border this weekend in a desperate attempt to persuade them to come home.

The students went to the region "to help, not to fight", a Turkish politician assisting the families told The Observer newspaper.

The newspaer identified the students as; Nada Sami Kader, Rowan Kamal Zine El Abidine, Tasneem Suleyman Huseyin, Ismail Hamadoun, Tamer Ahmed Ebu Sebah, Mohamed Osama Badri Mohammed, Hisham Mohammed Fadlallah, Sami Ahmed Kadir and Lena Maumoon Abdulqadir.

Mehmet Ali Ediboglu said the group, who were studying medicine in Sudan, had been "cheated, brainwashed".

He said: "Let's not forget about the fact that they are doctors; they went there to help, not to fight. So this case is a little bit different."

One of the women told her family about the trip in a Whatsapp message, the paper reported.

Lena Maumoon Abdulqadir reportedly told her relatives: "Don't worry about us, we've reached Turkey and are on our way to volunteer helping wounded Syrian people."

Her father told a Turkish newspaper he had passed the information to both British and Turkish police.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was supporting the students' families while efforts were made to trace them.

He said: "We are providing consular assistance to the families. We have informed the Turkish police to try and ascertain their whereabouts."

It is understood a decision to prosecute someone who has travelled to the war-torn region would depend on the circumstances and nature of the their activity there.

Last week a judge barred five teenage girls who have shown an interest in going to Syria from travelling abroad.

Meanwhile in February, it emerged three schoolgirls from the Bethnal Green Academy in east London had travelled to Syria to become "jihadi brides".

A fourth teenager from the same school who went missing in December is also believed to have joined Islamic State.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq.

"Anyone who does travel to these areas, even for humanitarian reasons, is putting themselves in considerable danger.

"The best way for the public to help is to donate to or otherwise support UK-registered charities with ongoing relief operations."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in