British student hails jihad 'golden era'; family member says: 'That's not my brother'

A British student has boasted of joining the “golden era of jihad” and fighting for the Islamic State, in a new video.

British student hails jihad 'golden era'; family member says: 'That's not my brother'

A British student has boasted of joining the “golden era of jihad” and fighting for the Islamic State, in a new video.

Londoner Hamzah Parvez, 21, claims he has been fighting for the violent extremists for five months, and calls on other Muslim Britons to give up their weekly Nandos and “come to the land of jihad and shout Allah”.

His face hidden behind a black scarf which only shows his eyes, and speaking in a thick London accent, he tells the camera: “This is the golden era of jihad. What are we doing sitting in the UK? Sitting in the land which kills Muslims everyday. What are we doing in their lands? It is not the lands for us.”

In the clip – believed to be the first footage of a Briton fighting for the militants in Iraq rather than Syria – he urges others to take up arms and join the growing ranks of foreign fighters.

He said there are “jobs for doctors, nurses, architects, builders even for street cleaners in the Islamic State”.

He added: “Are we content with eating Nando’s every week? Come to the land of jihad and shout Allah.”

Parvez, 21, comes from a stable home in west London, but earlier this year he lied to his family claiming he was travelling to Germany to study.

He convinced them to pay for his trip, but instead slipped out of Europe and travelled to the Middle East where he joined the estimated 2,000 foreign fighters there.

In an interview with ITV News, one of his close family members told of their devastation at Parvez’s decision to abandon his home and join the IS – the same Islamic militants who recently beheaded American journalist James Foley.

He said the swaggering militant in the clip bears little resemblance to the young man he knew as his brother and best friend.

He said: “That’s not my brother. My brother doesn’t act like that. My brother doesn’t call people to do violence against others. I don’t recognise him, that’s just the same body, it’s not the characteristic of my brother, it’s not the way he speaks. It’s not the way he acts, it’s not the way he addresses people, that’s not my brother.

“My brother, I don’t know what my brother is anymore. He’s my best friend. He was my best friend.”

Parvez called his family earlier this week and admitted he was abroad fighting, but his relative said the young militant just laughed when confronted about his lies.

The family member said: “I feel let down. I feel betrayed. I said can you admit that you lied to us and I had to push for that.”

He said he asked Parvez “can you admit that you lied to us can you say it to us that you are sorry? And he said I’m sorry and the way he said it, he laughed. I felt like he didn’t mean it.”

Parvez’s close friend, fellow Briton Mohammad Nasser, died fighting with IS jihadists – but despite this the young Londoner has vowed to continue fighting.

His appalled family are speaking out to warn against the dangers of radicalisation among young British Muslims.

And they are starting to accept the possibility that they may never see him alive again.

The family member said: “He said ’I have no plans to come home’. My sister asked the question what if your mum or dad died, he said ’I would pray for them’.

“That’s when I lost it. I started shouting at him, I started swearing at him - these are your parents, these are the people since day one have been there for you, and you say you wouldn’t attend their funeral and why?

“Because you want to serve this stupid leader, this self-proclaimed leader, over my parents.”

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