Police 'complicit in radicalisation' of missing sisters, claim family lawyers
In letter to Keith Vaz, solicitors for husbands of two of Bradford sisters thought to have taken their children to Syria ‘expressed grave concerns’ over police conduct
Sunday 21 June 2015 18.54 BSTLast modified on Monday 22 June 201512.32 BST
UK police were “complicit” in the alleged “grooming and radicalising” of three Bradford sisters, feared to have travelled to Syria with their nine children, lawyers of the families say.
The claims were made in a letter written to Keith Vaz, the chair of the Commons home affairs committee, in which the solicitors representing two of the fathers said their clients are “extremely disappointed with the manner in which this matter is being investigated by West Yorkshire Police”.
Lawyers added the fathers of the missing women and children “expressed grave concerns in the conduct of the police leading to these events”.
British sisters Khadija Dawood, 30, Sugra Dawood, 34, and Zohra Dawood, 33, and their nine children, aged between three and 15, are feared to have travelled to link up with terror group Islamic State in the country.
Referring to a brother of the sisters, who is believed to have joined Isis, the letter from Khan Solicitors, in Bradford, said they were “alarmed” by the police allegedly having been actively promoting and encouraging contact with the brother who, it is believed, is fighting in Syria.
“It would appear that there has been a reckless disregard as to the consequences of any such contact on the families of those whom we represent,” lawyers said.
The letter, published by Vaz, a Labour MP, on his website, claimed terror police were complicit in the radicalisation and continued: “Plainly, by the NECTU [North East Counter Terrorism Unit] allowing this contact they have been complicit in the grooming and radicalising of the women.”
“If this contact between them had been prevented our clients would not now be facing such circumstances.”
The solicitors said their clients have not had the information they want about the progress of the investigation. They also accused the police of making sure they were not criticised for their tactic of “allowing, encouraging and promoting contact with somebody believed to be in Syria”.
The letter said: “The actions and misjudgment of the NECTU has placed the lives of 12 British citizens at risk, nine of which are innocent children, the youngest being three years of age.”
The letter from the lawyers also confirms that Zohra Dawood left a voice message for her family on Wednesday. It indicated she was already in Syria and said the missing people had all travelled there together “due to the oppressive nature of the continued surveillance by the police”.
“Time is of the essence”, the lawyers write and call for an investigation and “meaningful dialogue” between authorities and the legal representatives of the families.
The police released the information about the voice message last week without any consultation with the fathers, the letter claims, and the solicitors say senior officers have refused to meet the two men.
The missing group travelled to Saudi Arabia on 28 May to go on an Islamic pilgrimage.
They were due to return to the UK on 11 June, but broke off all contact with family in Britain two days earlier on 9 June.
It is believed they boarded a flight to Turkey that day and subsequently crossed the border into Syria.
It later emerged that the same group tried to fly earlier this year. The sisters and their children, from Bradford, were originally booked to travel from Manchester to Mecca and Medina on 19 March. The NECTU confirmed the group had been stopped and made the subject of security checks earlier this year.
Last week, fathers Akhtar Iqbal and Mohammed Shoaib broke down as they pleaded desperately for their wives to return so they can go back to their “normal lives”.
Iqbal’s wife, Sugra, has gone away with his five children – Ismaeel, three, Mariya, five, Zaynab, eight, Ibrahim, 14, and 15-year-old Junaid Ahmed.
Appealing directly to his family, he said: “Please, please call me. It’s been eight, nine days, you are out and we don’t know where you are.
“I miss you, I love you. All of you, I love you a lot. I can’t live without you. To my family, please, please call me [so] at least I know where you are. Are you safe?”
Shoaib’s wife, Khadija, has disappeared with his two children - five-year-old Muhammad Haseeb and Maryam Siddiqui, seven. He said: “Please come back home with the kids, I know the kids can’t live without me and you. Please bring them home, they can’t live without me.”
He added: “I’m not angry, please come back, everything is normal, come back to normal life, please.”
Zohra’s husband is not currently living in the UK.
Following the letter, Vaz told the Mail on Sunday: “That three women could disappear from the UK to take nine children into the heart of a war zone is incomprehensible.
“The claims of their relatives in the UK that their links with IS were ‘encouraged’ by the authorities is concerning.”
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police said on Monday the force rejected the claims made in the letter from Khan Solicitors. “We have not seen the letter so cannot comment in detail on its contents,” they said.
“However, we completely reject accusations that the police were complicit in the alleged grooming of the missing family or that we were oppressive to them.
“While we do not comment on all aspects of police work for valid operational and safeguarding reasons, this is an ongoing investigation and we are continuing to do everything we can to find the missing family and to ensure the safety of the children”
“Their relatives have been kept informed throughout this investigation and we are pleased they expressed their satisfaction with the support they have received so far. This will continue.”