Birmingham pharmacist detained in Syria on suspicion of Isis membership

British man captured by Kurdish forces claims he has been working in Syrian hospitals

A British man claiming to be a Birmingham pharmacist has been detained in Syria on suspicion of being a member of Isis.

He is believed to have been captured by Kurdish forces near Hajin in Deir ez-Zur, a province on the border with Iraq.

Video showing him being questioned by his Kurdish captors has emerged on social media.

The clip shows a blindfolded man with a British accent stating that his name is Anwar Miah, from Birmingham.

Asked if he is a member of Isis, Mr Miah replies: “I’m a doctor. I’m a qualified pharmacist from the UK. I studied medicine and pharmacy.”

The detainee said he has been in Syria for “just under four years” and claimed he had been working in hospitals since he arrived.

When asked if he was a member of Isis, also known as Daesh, he replied: “The areas that I worked in were controlled by Daesh, but I work with the general people, I work in the general hospitals.

The areas that I worked in were controlled by Daesh, but I work with the general people, I work in the general hospital 

Anwar Miah

“I mean I don’t... I mean they were controlled by Daesh, I can’t do anything about that. All my work was with the public.”

A pharmacist with the name Mohammad Anwar Miah was struck off the register by the UK’s General Pharmaceutical Council in 2014 for falsifying records at a Birmingham practice.

Mr Miah is thought to be held in a facility in northern Syria supervised by US forces.

Two British nationals suspected of being part of an Isis group dubbed “The Beatles” because of their British accents were captured by Kurdish fighters in Syria in February.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh fell into the hands of Kurdish militia fighters in January. Along with Mohammed Emwazi – the man nicknamed “Jihadi John” – and Aine Davis, the group of London-born men have been linked to a series of hostage murders in Iraq and Syria.

The US State Department believes the group were responsible for both mock executions and the beheadings of 27 people.

The capture of Kotey and Elsheikh – currently in solitary confinement in a Syrian jail – became the subject of political controversy after it emerged the UK government had not sought a guarantee preventing their execution if extradited to the US to face terrorism charges.

Shiraz Maher, director of King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said Mr Miah’s detention raised questions about how many foreigners remain in the region with Isis.

He tweeted: “One of the big questions and dilemmas for security agencies, after Islamic State lost Raqqah and Mosul, is: who died? Who survived? How many got away and where are they now?”

An operation to reclaim Hajin, the last town in Syrian remaining under Isis control, is currently under way by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.