Two British brothers jailed for attending Syrian terrorism training camp

Mohommod Nawaz, left, and Hamza Nawaz were sentenced to four-and-a-half years and three years respectively (Picture: AFP)

Two men have become the first Britons to be jailed for terrorism training in Syria.
Mohommod Nawaz, 30, and Hamza Nawaz, 24, are brothers from Stratford, east London. They were sentenced to four-and-a-half years and three years respectively.

Sentencing, Judge Christopher Moss QC said: ‘The evidence shows you were there for jihad, or holy war, and wanted to join an extremist group.’

Much of the evidence was taken from photos and messages on the Nawaz brothers’ phones.
However, it made clear that their focus was on the Syrian regime, not on attacking UK soil.

Scotland Yard described the sentences as a ‘landmark case’. James Brokenshire, the Immigration and Security Minister, said the ruling sent a ‘clear message that people who commit, plan and support acts of terror abroad will face justice when they come back to the UK’.

The family of the brothers originally contacted police last August, to report the pair missing after they failed to return from a meal in Walthamstow.

In reality, the brothers had traveled to Turkey via France, before crossing the border into Syria.
However, they returned to the UK in September, where border officers discovered incriminating evidence on their phones, as well as ammunition.

Photos and video footage confirmed their presence at a terrorism training camp, with one clip showing a brother responding, ‘jihad, yeah’, to the question, ‘here for jihad?’ posed to him at the Syrian border.

Mohommod Nawaz was previously convicted in 2009 of blackmail, false imprisonment, kidnap and wounding. He was jailed for six years, but released on license providing he stayed in the UK.

Both brothers admitted conspiracy to attend a terrorism training camp in 2013.