The British Daesh fighter, known as ‘Jihadi Jack,’ has said in an interview that he has “no intention of blowing up British people” if he returns to the UK after a court recently found his parents guilty of funding terrorism.
Speaking from a prison in Syria where he is being detained by Kurdish fighters, the suspected terrorist, whose real name is Jack Letts, said he was desperate to get back to the UK, calling Britons “my people.”
“I would love to go home” said Mr Letts, adding however that he knows the chances of that happening are slim, saying that he has “no intention of blowing [British people] up.”
During the much-anticipated interview, Letts admitted to fighting against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but said that he was doing so with the “wrong people.”
Mr Letts also expressed that he is keen to reunite with his parents, who were recently convicted at the Old Bailey on charges of supporting terrorism by sending Mr Letts money while he was in Syria, despite repeated warnings from authorities that he was fighting under the auspices of Daesh.
Letts, a Muslim covert who left the UK for Syria in 2014 while he was still a teenager said, “I feel guilty because I'm the reason they are going through this. I understand I am being punished because of what I have done but my mother shouldn't be punished for that.”
“They didn't do anything wrong. They sent me money to leave [Syria]. It's not like they were funding some sort of terrorist activity. Two atheists being convicted for Islamic terrorism doesn't make much sense… I was surprised they were convicted. They are definitely not Islamic fundamentalists. They are not even Muslims.” Letts added.
Sally Lane, Jack’s mother, has told media that her life is left “in ruins” as a consequence of the court hearings outcome, in which she and her husband were given suspended sentences. The jury was told that both parents tried to send a total sum of £1,723 to their son while he was living shoulder-to-shoulder with cutthroat jihadists in Daesh’s so-called ‘caliphate.’
“They only sent me $300 - I bought glasses and maybe falafel... I didn't buy any nuclear weapons,” Letts said during his interview.
Despite his veneer of regret and homesickness, in another recent interview, Letts confessed to once preparing to carry out a suicide attack, and also said that he once saw himself as “an enemy of Britain.”
“I used to want to at one point, believe it or not. Not a vest. I wanted to do it in a car. I said if there's a chance, I will do it,” Letts said of his past deliberation over carrying out a terrorist bombing.
Jack Letts is just one Briton detained in Northern Syria for fighting with Daesh. Shamima Begum, whose case received attention from the world, is also languishing in prison under the watchful eye of Kurdish authorities. It is not year clear whether either will be allowed to come home, although the latter now famously had her citizenship stripped by Home Secretary Sajid Javid.