Express & Star

'I'm no terrorist so let my wife go': ISIS suspect contacts Express & Star from Turkish hideout

A suspected ISIS terrorist has pleaded for his wife to be set free in England and insisted last night: 'I'm not in Syria – I'm teaching in Turkey.'

Published

Sajid Aslam's wife was convicted of concealing information about his terror plans at the Old Bailey two months ago.

Lorna Moore, of Walsall, faces a jail sentence of up to five years.

But her husband has now contacted the Express & Star in an email littered with computer viruses.

Experts believe this may be a way of preventing the email being traced, as Aslam does not reveal his exact location.

He insists he is not an ISIS fighter and that he is a teacher in south eastern Turkey.

He included a picture of him playing the Call of Duty computer game and said: "This is the nearest I've come to firing a gun."

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Sajid Aslam posing with computer games Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed

He refuses to return to England to clear his wife's name as he alleges that MI5 would use torture techniques on him.

He says British intelligence services are aware of his contact and that he has contacted them 'to initiate dialogue ultimately resulting in my return to the UK'. However, he claims: "The email was ignored by the authorities and I received no response whatsoever."

Aslam's full letter in which he says he is actually a teacher working in a makeshift school for child refugees

The Old Bailey was told that Aslam, of Glebe Street, Walsall, crossed the border from Turkey to Syria two years ago, leaving behind Moore and three young children.

Two months ago she was found guilty of concealing information he was joining ISIS.

Aslam claims he is working in south eastern Turkey, teaching child refugees who have fled the Syrian civil war.

Moore's trial heard Aslam had flown from Stansted Airport to Istanbul and then to Gaziantep on the Turkish/Syrian border – where he met two friends from Walsall to enter Syria and join ISIS.

But in the email sent to this newspaper, Aslam, 34, denies he ever entered the war-torn country. He has provided a 67-page document alleging he is living in Turkey.

It includes photographs published today, showing pictures of his apparent Turkish home, place of work and taste in Western culture.

One of dozens of photographs that Sajid Aslam sent to the Express & Star

In the email, he said: "I hope my message reaching the public domain would pressure the authorities to respond to my attempts to contact them, and that I would be given the opportunity to return to Britain to prove my innocence and my wife's innocence – reversing the terrible suspicions, accusations, and terrible miscarriages of justice which have been inflicted upon us."

He also reveals details of his will – found by counter terrorism police – which predict his death from coalition airstrikes or in armed combat – a statement he defends, saying he lives close to Syrian border.

He wants the authorities to employ him to tackle extremism within the British Muslim community, adding he is 'proud to be British'.

His wife Moore, 33, who converted to Islam after meeting him in 2000 and moving to Walsall, was found guilty of failing to alert authorities about Aslam's plans to travel to the so-called Islamic State.

She was released on bail but warned by the judge she should have 'no expectations raised' about the likely sentence.

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