British aid worker 'captured by Islamic militants' in Idlib
A British aid worker who was stripped of his UK citizenship was arrested in northwest Syria on Monday by a jihadist group.
Tauqir Sharif was captured in Atmeh, a town north of Idlib province on Monday night and taken to an “unknown location,” activists in the area said.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was formerly linked to al-Qaeda, and controls parts of the northwest, the last rebel-held area still at war with Damascus.
The reason for his seizure remains unclear.
The 32-year-old from Walthamstow travelled to Syria in 2012 with his British wife and founded the organisation Live Updates from Syria, which works with orphans and widows and raises awareness of the humanitarian catastrophe.
Mr Sharif’s wife, Racquell Hayden Best, has requested a formal statement from HTS on the reason for her husband’s arrest but has had no official response.
According to a post on her Facebook page, masked men searched their house in Idlib where they live with their children late last night.
HTS security personnel also raided the houses of a number of foreign nationals linked to Mr Sharif, confiscating laptops and mobile phones and shutting down Live Updates from Syria offices and projects, according to Middle East Eye.
Mr Sharif’s family told the London-based news organisation that they had not been notified of any demands or ransom.
Mr Sharif had his citizenship revoked in 2017, after he was assessed to be “aligned with an al-Qaeda-aligned group,” rendering him stateless and effectively stranded in Syria.
“I have never aligned myself with any group involved in the conflict or taken part in any operation that is not related to my aid work. I no longer carry an assault rifle as we now have security, so I only need my handgun,” Mr Sharif told the Guardian in an interview last year.
“Yes, I’ve fired it, shooting back at people who shot at us, who want to kill us. But I’m not a fighter, I’m an aid worker,” he said, reportedly pointing to the fact that large aid groups have security and as an independent, he had to carry out that role himself.
He added that other well-known activists, doctors and aid workers had also had their citizenships revoked.
