Nine missing British medics ‘had humanitarian motives’

Nine British medical students and doctors believed to have travelled to Syria were motivated by humanitarian concerns, their parents have said.

The nine were studying in Sudan but are feared to have gone to areas of Syria controlled by Islamic State militants.

Their families said they did not know their children’s whereabouts but they had “excellent moral capabilities”.

They also urge the British, Turkish and Sudanese authorities to work together for the safe return of the medics.

The nine are believed to have entered Syria from Turkey more than a week ago.
Radicalisation fears

“Our sons and daughters have always been participating in humanitarian and good cause social work,” the statement from the families said.

“They have come to Turkey willingly to offer voluntary medical help to those refugees who are in need of medical care on Turkey’s borders.”

They said they knew their children had arrived in Turkey, but said they had disappeared.

The families also called on the British, Turkish and Sudanese authorities to “enforce, speed up and co-ordinate more effective measures to ensure the safety of our children”.

BBC Turkey correspondent Mark Lowen said there had been fears that the medics, all in their late teens or early 20s, had been radicalised or recruited by Islamic State militants.

The nine medics have been named as Mohammed Wael Fadlallah, Tasneem Suliman, Ismail Hamdoun, Nada Sami Kader, Mohammed Elbadri Ibrahim, Rawan Kamal Zine El Abidine, Tamir Ahmed Abusibah, Lena Mamoun Abdelgadir and Sami Ahmed Kadir.

Chris Staley, head of Wisbech Grammar in Cambridgeshire, said he hoped former pupil Lena Mamoun Abdelgadir would return to her family.

He told the BBC that she was “furiously bright”, “very normal” and a “very focused young lady”.

“We would want to see Lena back in the arms of her family, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

Sourced from the BBC Online