LONDON: A British militant who traveled to Syria to join a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda is set to be released from prison almost five years early.
Yusuf Sarwar, 29, then a student in the city of Birmingham, left a letter to his mother in 2013 saying he had gone to fight “Allah’s enemies.”
She notified police of the letter and Sarwar, who moved to Syria with a former postal worker, was subsequently arrested when he returned to Britain the following year.
A UK parole board has now ruled that Sarwar will be released in June after serving eight years of his almost 13-year jail term.
Judge Michael Topolski QC told the court during Sarwar’s sentencing more than five years ago that the militant pair had “willingly, enthusiastically and with a great deal of purpose, persistence and determination embarked on a course intended to commit acts of terrorism.”
Topolski said they believed in “violent Islamist extremism” and had made extensive preparations “to join the ranks of the Islamist forces,” adding: “Before traveling, you both went to some trouble to fabricate cover stories.”
The judge noted that traces of “military-grade explosives” were detected on the clothing of the men following their arrest.
“This was not a spontaneous response to travel to a humanitarian crisis. Without any doubt, it shows you were traveling to Syria intent on jihad,” Topolski said at the time.
Chris Phillips, former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, told The Sun: “What type of system puts the public at risk like this? This is yet another disaster waiting to happen.”
