A couple of committed Islamists and keen followers of radical Imam Anjem Choudary who attempted to take their children into a war zone and join ISIS, will be allowed to keep their passports and young children a family court ruled yesterday.
In the first ruling of its kind, Sir James Munby, the most senior family court judge in England and Wales, said the family will have their passports returned as parents Asif Malik, 31, and Sara Kiran, 29, posed no threat to the welfare of their children – daughter Zoha, seven, and three sons Essa, four, Zakariva, two, and Yahya, one.
Sir James said they had “put the incident behind them”, The Times reports.
Mr Malik was photographed outside Regent’s Park mosque last January holding a placard which read: “Muslims will destroy the crusade and establish the Islamic state!” and outside the Lebanese embassy in May last year with one stating: “Stop Terrorism Against Sunnis… Islamic State Is The Solution.”
He was a member of the banned extremist group al-Mujahiroun, founded by the infamous Anjem Choudary who is currently being detained on charges of recruiting for terrorist organisations, and had links to Abu Rahin Aziz, an Islamic State fighter from Luton killed in a US drone strike in July.
The family was detained near the Syrian border in Turkey in April, after concerns were raised when they were caught on CCTV traveling by ferry to Europe.
Sir James praised the couple for co-operating with police and said he supported the findings of a Reading Council social worker that “there are no immediate concerns for the welfare of the children”.
He said police had told the family that no further action would be taken.
The social worker wrote: “It is my assessment that the intervention of the state has been a wake-up call for this couple. Their current beliefs do not pose a risk or compromise the safety of their children.
“[They] are good parents and they are able to care for all their children. I see no reason whatsoever to remove the children from their care.”
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