An IT consultant who flew business class to Syria to fight alongside Islamist terrorists has been jailed for nine years.
Isa Giga, 32 from Hounslow in west London, devastated his family when he told them he was going to Birmingham but instead quit his job and travelled to Syria via Turkey in 2015.
He then sent them a bombshell email informing them he was travelling to the war torn country and hoped to become a martyr with terrorists from Jaysh al Fath – an al-Qaeda linked group.
‘I have come here to fight for jihad,’ he told them.
Today at the Old Bailey, Giga has been convicted of preparation of terrorist acts after claiming he only went to Syria in 2015 to live an Islamic life.
The Recorder of London, Judge Mark Lucraft sentenced Giga to nine years with an extended licence period of one year.
He will be subject to notification requirements for terrorist offenders for 15 years.
Prosecutor Joel Smith, KC, said: ‘By 2015, Syria was in the middle of a bloody, brutal and long-running civil war.
Isa Giga, 32 from Hounslow in west London, has been jailed for nine years after he flew business class to Syria to fight alongside Islamist terrorists
‘That civil war involved many groups and factions and one of those groups was Jaysh al Fath. In English that translates as “The Army of Conquest”‘.
Mr Smith described Jaysah as ‘an alliance of armed, Islamist factions including an Al-Qaeda affiliated group whose aim was, by military force, to establish an Islamic State in the area of Idlib, in Syria’.
He continued: ‘One of the main groups that was part of Jaysh was called Jabhat al-Nusra. They attempted to appeal to foreign fighters by portraying themselves as a more “moderate” alternative to ISIS.
‘They were intending to overthrow the Syrian government by force to establish an Islamic State.’
Mr Smith said multiple messages show Giga admitting he was involved with Jaysh and jihad.
In 2015 Giga was 22 and living with his parents and sister in west London.
He handed in his notice at the business company ANS on August 2015 after five months.
One week after finishing work on September 7 2015 Giga flew from Heathrow to Asana in the south of Turkey via Istanbul.
He paid £808.86 for a business class return ticket with no intention of returning on that flight.
Giga’s family gave police access to emails he sent them.
He emailed his sister to say he had dropped his phone and it was not working on September 8 2015.
Al-Nusra Front fighters in Syria. Giga travelled to Syria to join the al-Qaeda affiliated group in September 2015
The next day Giga’s sister emailed him saying she had tried to contact three hotels in Birmingham to get hold of him saying: ‘How are we supposed to contact you? parents aren’t happy and nor am I’.
Giga had not told his family he had quit his job but did so via email.
He said: ‘On sunday night I did not go to bham I went to ibis in hayes and I took a flight to Turkey on late Monday.
‘I crossed the border into Syria on tuesday evening.
‘I have come here to fight for jihad. I’m based in idlib province and I fight for Jaysh al Fath which is the rebel coalition which includes the free Syrian army up to al-Qaeda linked groups
‘I have come here to fight against assad and also to fight against isis. I cant sit at home when fellow muslims are in need and their religion is in danger.’
He said he did not need his parents permission to fight for jihad and said he needed to emigrate from Britain ‘where I cannot bear to live with non Muslims.’
Giga added that he loved them all so much and that it was ‘painful for me to leave and say goodbye’.
He continued: ‘But ultimately a muslim knows this life is a transition to an everlasting life and my life belongs to the one who created me. Not the ones who gave birth to me. Allah has commanded jihad. I am the servant and must obey.
‘I have planned this for about a year now. No I was not brainwashed by am internet personality. I came to jihad after reading the quran and books by classical scholars.
‘I am in good hands here. At the moment I live with some westerners and some Arabs. I start military work in 3 weeks.
‘This won’t be easy for you guys but once again I love you all so much but religion comes first. Hopefully we will spend eternity together in Jannah.’
His sister replied: ‘Can not believe you have done this Isa. We loved you so much gave you total trust and you have just gone and thrown it our faces.’
His dad said: ‘My Dearest Isa, We all hope and pray you are well.
‘I will make this message short, but request as a father who always loved you from the bottom of my heart.
‘I have tried in every little detail to hold your hand and guide you forward to adulthood.
‘Please don’t do anything that will break my or your mothers or families heart, stay within the bounds of true Islam and humanity, stay away from extremism and follow the Sunnah.
‘If ever you need your families help you contact us without wasting a minute (any time day or night).
‘I am returning the money I borrowed from you last week minus a few deductions so that you can feed and clothe yourself and maybe if you don’t like the place use some of it to return to your family.
‘Keep in touch and take special care of yourself.’
He sent £4,500 to his son’s Lloyds bank account, the court heard.
Giga emailed his sister on 17 October 2015 saying: ‘I wanted to send you another email a while back but I don’t have much internet access anymore because of the russian planes and drones all around us.
‘I wanted to send an email without seeing you initial reply because i can’t bare to see words from you guys which show that you are upset, i did see the first reply, but at the moment i don’t have the strength to see whatever other emails have been sent.
‘Honestly i love you all so much and even when writing this i can’t hold back the tears, if it wasn’t a religious obligation for me to have gone of course i would never have left, more than anything what i want is to spend eternity with you guys.
‘I know it probably seems like empty words to you but that is far from the case.’
He told them that if they did not hear from him for more than two months they should assume he had passed away and that he hoped ‘more than anything to gain martyrdom while fighting against isis or against the Assad regime’.
‘I hope more than anything to gain martyrdom while fighting against isis or against the assad regime but i fear death as much as anyone else.
Giga’s father travelled to Rehanley, Turkey to try and contact his son and sent a letter to him begging for him to return.
‘I can’t bear to see your mum cry everyday and be depressed and her life destroyed,’ he said.
Giga replied: ‘I have not come here with the intention of returning back.
‘I will not walk away from Syria, how can I walk away when there is death all around me, I feel like paradise is very close here, just two days ago one of my friends from the UK was martyred while in a battle.
‘Even though I long to meet my parents, more than anything else I want to enter into paradise without being punished, and I want to be able to intercede for my family.
‘You may think that me leaving you guys means I don’t love you, but one of he primary reasons I am motivated to be here is I want to spend eternity with you guys in paradise.’
In the email Giga included a link to a book by Shaykh Abdullah Azzam who was a mentor for Osama Bin Laden in his youth.
He continued to insist he had gone to Syria simply to carry out ‘private religious study.’
Giga, of Hounslow, west London, denied but was convicted of preparation of terrorist acts.
