'I Want to Go Home'- British Pharmacist Who Spent Years in Daesh Stronghold

Mohammed Anwar Miah has lived in Mayadin, a town held by Daesh*, for 4 years, allegedly working as an assistant orthopaedic surgeon, even though he didn't speak Arabic when he arrived to Syria from Birmingham.

Having worked as a pharmacist in Britain, Miah left the UK in 2014 to travel to Daesh-held territory in Syria. 

In 2018, he was detained by Kurdish forces during his escape from Mayadin with his wife and infant daughter. Miah has now spoken out about his wish to return to Britain with his teen wife and two children.

"I want to go home. I'm proud to be British. Britain has got good human rights and that is a good thing," he said at an intelligence building in Al-Hasakah province.

"In an ideal situation I would like to take my wife and my children back to Britain with me and just live a normal life. If she can live there and she's not allowed health care OK so be it. I've never claimed any benefits in my life. I've always worked for a living and paid taxes," Miah added.

— Jim Slater (@69mib) September 24, 2018​

He has previously claimed to be a "qualified pharmacist from the UK" who studied medicine and pharmacy and went to Syria to help the general public, not serve Daesh.

"I'm not a danger to the public," Miah said, adding he is happy to enter into any rehabilitation programme back home, if the authorities consider him a threat.

"If they want to punish me, they can punish me. If they want to monitor me I have no problem. I am in remorse for coming to Syria and if I could go back in time I wouldn't come to Syria," the detained Brit said.

Miah's claims come as the UK Home Office made a decision to revoke the citizenship of another Brit who left for Syria several years ago. Nineteen-year-old Shamima Begum — who joined a Daesh fighter in Syria as a teenager in 2015 — earlier this month had her British citizenship revoked by Home Minister Sajid Javid, who argued she is eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship.

READ MORE: Sorry Not Sorry? Shamima Begum Says She Wants Brits to Learn From Her 'Mistake'

In this file photo taken on February 22, 2015 Renu Begum, eldest sister of missing British girl Shamima Begum, holds a picture of her sister while being interviewed by the media in central London

© AFP 2023 / Laura Lean

Mohammed Anwar Miah is also linked to Bangladesh via his mother who was born there. He, however, claims, he doesn't hold Bangladeshi citizenship and would rather stay in prison than be sent to Dhaka.

Miah is held in Syria by Kurdish-led forces alongside two Brits, members of the so-called ‘Beatles' group, said to be involved in the torture and killing of at least 27 Western hostages in Syria.

Alexanda Amon Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up a brutal Islamic State cell dubbed "The Beatles," speak during an interview with The Associated Press at a security center in Kobani, Syria, Friday, March 30, 2018.

© AP Photo / Hussein Malla

READ MORE: Mum of Daesh ‘Beatles' Terrorist Defeated in UK Court Over Death Penalty Issue

*Daesh (aka Islamic state/ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia