- By Paul Byrne
Privately-educated Aqsa Mahmood from Glasgow wrote a manifesto for Islamic State girls saying “If you cannot make it to the battlefield, then bring the battlefield to yourself"
SWNSThe parents of British Islamic State jihadist say she has “betrayed” her country.
Privately educated Aqsa Mahmood , 20, who dropped out of university and married an IS fighter, has written a terrifying manifesto calling on other women to join the terrorists in Syria.
In a statement her parents, Muzaffar and Khalida Mahmood, said: “We still love you, Aqsa, but we now have to put your family, your brother and sisters first as you have betrayed us, our community and the people of Scotland when you took this step.
“You have torn the heart out of our family and changed our lives forever. Please come home.”
And they warned: “If our daughter, who had all the chances and freedom in life, could become a bedroom radical, then it is possible for this to happen to any family.”
Mrs Mahmood wiped away tears as solicitor Aamer Anwar read a statement on her and her husband’s behalf.
They said: “She may believe that the jihadists of IS are her new family but they are not and are simply using her.”
They added: “Aqsa was always a very sweet, peaceful, intelligent child and inquisitive about everything.
“We had high hopes for her and would have loved for her to be a doctor and to save lives.
“We dreamed that one day we would see her married with children but sadly that no longer looks likely.
“As parents we would have liked for her to listen to us but we gave her everything possible in terms of love, freedom and education and she chose the path which we could never approve of.
IS video shows veiled female fighters firing AK-47 rifles
“All parents want to be proud of their children but sadly we now feel nothing but sorrow and shame for Aqsa.
“We are not in denial and do not make any excuses for her and absolutely condemn her involvement in IS and recent comments.
“But she is our daughter and we still love her, fear for her life and would urge her to return home whilst she still can.”
Aqsa, from Glasgow, contacted her parents after arriving in Syria last November and had kept in touch through social media until this week when her involvement with IS was revealed.
Her parents, who are liaising with Police Scotland, said: “IS are killing in the name of religion and claiming to defend the weak, but by joining with them our daughter is brainwashed and deluded and helping those engaged in genocide.
“There is no smoking gun, no family member, no fundamentalist preacher that can be blamed for her radicalisation.
“Aqsa, like many young people in our community, was naturally angry and frustrated at the loss of innocent life in the Middle East but this is not the way to help.”
Aqsa had been studying diagnostic radiography until she vanished last year.
It is understood she has been placed on an MI5 watchlist and could face terror charges if she returns to Britain.
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