Rapper who became one of the first British jihadis to join ISIS has fled Syria after becoming disillusioned with jihadi life and is on the run in Turkey

  • Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary is believed to be hiding in the Turkish border zone
  • Former rapper was among first foreign fighters to take up arms in warzone
  • The 25-year-old achieved online notoriety by posing with a severed head
  • But he confirmed last week that he was no longer committed to ISIS cause

By Chris Greenwood Crime Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 13:57 EST, 12 July 2015 | Updated: 05:10 EST, 13 July 2015

One of the first British jihadists to join Islamic State was being hunted by the security services last night after fleeing Syria.

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 25, is believed to be hiding among thousands of refugees in the chaotic border zone with Turkey.

The former rap star, whose father was a key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, was among the first foreign fighters to take up arms in the warzone two years ago.

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Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 25, one of the first British jihadists to join Islamic State was being hunted by the security services last night after fleeing Syria

Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 25, one of the first British jihadists to join Islamic State was being hunted by the security services last night after fleeing Syria

The former rap star's father was a key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden
He was among the first foreign fighters to take up arms in the warzone two years ago

The former rap star (pictured left and right), whose father was a key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, was among the first foreign fighters to take up arms in the warzone two years ago

His family links eased his path into the heart of the fledging terrorist group as he achieved online notoriety by posing with a severed head and threatening the West.

But he appears to have fallen out with Islamic State and confirmed publicly last week that he was no longer committed to its cause.

In a series of messages posted on Twitter, the Londoner joked with former friends and spoke of how he missed music while living among militant Islamists.

He also took the opportunity to follow the accounts of a string of women, including several who posed provocatively in their profile pictures.

In one outburst he attacked a critic for questioning his jihadists credentials, pointing out he had ‘lived’ experiences others could only see in violent computer games.

It is not known why Bary fell out with Islamic State but believed to be among up to 50 British fighters trapped in limbo in Turkey.

Many Western fighters have grown increasingly disillusioned amid sustained coalition bombing and military losses as well as tough living conditions.

They face prosecution and jail for terrorist offences if they return home and execution as traitors by their former comrades if they are caught.

He appears to have fallen out with Islamic State and confirmed publicly last week that he was no longer committed to its cause

He appears to have fallen out with Islamic State and confirmed publicly last week that he was no longer committed to its cause

Security sources said they are investigating reports Bary disguised himself as a refugee and escaped during a retreat from the border town of Tal Abyad last month.

Bary became the face of the British jihadist threat when he was exposed by the Daily Mail in December 2013.

Before he left the country he was an ambitious rapper known as Lyricist Jinn and L Jinny whose tracks were played on BBC radio stations.

He was brought up by his mother Ragaa in a large council-owned home in Maida Vale, North West London, now worth more than £1 million.

The property is a short distance from the home of Mohammed Emwazi, or Jihadi John, the terrorist mass murderer who he was often mistaken for.

His family links eased his path into the heart of the fledging terrorist group as he achieved online notoriety by posing with a severed head and threatening the West

His family links eased his path into the heart of the fledging terrorist group as he achieved online notoriety by posing with a severed head and threatening the West

When he first left the country he posted a series of blood curdling messages and posed for photographs dressed in military fatigues with heavy weapons.

He issued threats against the West and posted a picture of himself holding the severed head of a Syrian solder.

Last year his family home was raided by the police which provoked another strong reaction from the rapping jihadi.

He wrote: ‘They have nothing to do with this, they did not even know where I am. I haven’t lived at home for years you pagans.’

Bary, who has used many names online including Abu Klashnikov [sic] and ‘soldier of Allah’, claimed he was kidnapped and tortured by a rival Islamic terror group.

Friends said his conversion to radical Islam happened as he grew increasingly frustrated with the British authorities over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earlier this year his father was sentenced to 25 years in an American prison for conspiring to kill Americans in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa, which left 224 people dead.

Adel Abdel Bary senior - who was extradited to the United States from Britain in 2012 - pleaded guilty to working for al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad.

His eight-year legal battle made him a cause celebre of the Left as his lawyers took his publicly-funded case to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.

But investigators said he was one of bin Laden’s closest lieutenants in the infancy of Al-Qaeda and ran a London cell of the terror network.

A U.S. indictment named Bary alongside bin Laden as conspirators in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

It claimed new Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri appointed him to head the London cell and he knew about the bombings before they took place. 

 

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