Book reveals how Brighton brothers turned to Syria Jihad

Mark Townsend has written about the refugee brothers from Saltdean who turned into jihadists during the conflict.

No Return reveals the tale of Amer Deghayes and his younger brothers Abdullah and Jaffar, and friends Ibby Kamara and Mo Khan, who made the trek to the war-torn country when they saw the outrages of the Assad regime on their television screens.

Mr Townsend, 48, an award-winning journalist for The Guardian and The Observer, first investigated the brothers in 2016, and began to write the book two years later.

He started by meeting members of the so-called “Hill Street Gang” (HSG) in Brighton, who had been led by 18-year-old Amer Deghayes and had trained at the Brothers’ Gym in the city.

His work led him to speak with the eldest brother, who has witnessed the death of Abdullah and Jaffar during the conflict, as well as with the gang members left behind.

As the Government has said those who remained in Syria would face a ten-year prison sentence if they returned to Britain, Mr Townsend has asked unsettling questions about how the youths were radicalised in the first place and how there were missed opportunities by the authorities to intervene.

Mr Townsend said: “The narrative behind those who went to Syria is owned by the police, Home Office and the Government, so I wanted to look at it again.

“Failings were identified and they have not been addressed. Questions have been asked but have gone unanswered.

“It is really shocking how they got drawn into this. You have got disenfranchised young men, and for various, often relatable reasons, they decided to go to Syria.”

He said as many as 30 youngsters in Brighton had been part of the group that were left behind.

The book examines the Deghayes’ family and their arrival in the UK from Libya as refugees.

Abubaker Deghayes, the brother’s father, fled the brutal Gaddafi regime after his father Amer Taher Deghayes was killed in custody for fighting for trade union and human rights.

Amnesty International said he was “believed to have been extra-judicially executed”.

But life as refugees for Abubaker’s young sons in Saltdean was difficult and they faced often daily racism and abuse.

They had intervention from Brighton and Hove City Council, whose officers worked with the family regularly.

Meanwhile their uncle Omar Deghayes was snatched by mercenaries and sold to the United States in Afghanistan.

Mr Townsend said Omar spent years in the “gulag” of Guantanamo Bay, where he was tortured before eventually being released.

But the boys’ radicalisation perhaps started when they formed the Hill Street Gang and started to toughen up in the gym as teenagers.

Mr Townsend reveals how they became influenced by radical clerics preaching on YouTube.

His book reveals how the five youngsters decided to go to Syria and fight a “holy war”, a jihad, against Assad’s forces, when at the time both the United States and Britain had not intervened.

They joined a fighters’ group called Jabhat al-Nusra, near the Turkish border and the former rebel stronghold Aleppo.

The group itself is separate from the so-called Islamic State terrorists.

Mr Townsend said: “They are no angels, and some of them have some pretty serious violence offences, but quite a few saw this as a chance to atone.

“They wanted to go and take out the bad guys, and their jihadism was about trying to defend people from a brutal war and regime.”

Now Amer finds himself the only survivor, living with his wife and daughter in Syria. He is 25.

Mark Townsend, pictured right, is the home affairs editor for The Observer. His book, No Return: The True Story Of How Martyrs Are Made is now available and is printed by Guardian Faber, at a cost of £12.99. Visit www.guardianbookshop.com to find out more.