‘They don’t really understand what they’re getting involved in’: Former British soldier DEFENDS jihadi brides as he reveals why he’s saved almost 100 women from ISIS in Syria
- Father, who uses alias John Carney, thinks ‘everyone deserves second chance’
- He has rescued dozens of women in daring raids after receiving calls for help
- Said he has risked ‘torture and death’ to carry out the rescues in Iraq and Syria
A former British soldier who has rescued 70 jihadi brides from ISIS today defended his risky work, saying they are often ‘vulnerable people who do not know what they are getting involved in’.
The father-of-one, who uses the alias John Carney, has rescued 100 women and children in total after risky raids on terrorist-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria, risking kidnap, torture and death.
Appearing in silhouette form on Good Morning Britain today, he said: ‘These are often vulnerable young girls who have children… they’ve followed a husband or boyfriend out there but have realised it’s no way to live their life’.
The father-of-one, who uses the alias John Carney, has rescued 100 women and children in total after risky raids on terrorist-controlled territory in Iraq and Syria. He appeared on Good Morning Britain today in silhouette form to protect his identity
Mr Carney performed his first rescue in 2016, when as a security worker in the Middle East he received a call from a woman begging to be rescued.
The former Yorkshire Regiment soldier said: ‘When you have young girls venturing into these areas they need someone to understand their motivation.
‘You’re talking about vulnerable people here, they don’t really understand what they are getting involved in at the time they went over to Syria and Iraq.’
Mr Carney has previously described Shamima Begum as typical of the ISIS brides he has saved, and believes ‘everyone deserves a second chance’.
Begum – one of three schoolgirls for Bethnal Green Academy in east London that fled to join ISIS in February 2015 – lost her bid to return to the UK after Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her citizenship.
It later emerged she had been involved in stitching suicide bombers into their explosive vests, according to evidence gathered by British spy chiefs.
Mr Carney has previously described Shamima Begum (pictured) as typical of the ISIS brides he has saved
Mr Carney liberates women from ISIS territory as part of a team carrying assault rifles and grenades, before handing them over to friendly forces on the ground. He is never involved in returning them to their home countries.
‘There’s always a huge element of danger.
‘We’ve all seen what happens to people if they get caught in the wrong location at the wrong time – torture and death.
‘I have no role in actually getting them to their own countries – when they do return it is up to their governments to try them.’
Mr Carney said his family knows about his work but they have ‘mechanisms to deal with’ the emotional impact.
He added: ‘There’s a price on my head. When you go toe to toe with these guys there is always going to be a threat of retaliation.’
Mr Carney was interviewed on GMB by presenters Ben Shepherd and Kate Garraway