When you leave South Africa with your family to go join ISIS you may have burnt a few bridges, but that hasn’t stopped the Moosagie family from PE reaching out for help.

The family of seven left SA in January of last year, ending up in the city of Raqqa, Syria. Now, with their 18-year-old son in a coma after being shot in the head, they have reached out to the SA Embassy in Turkey for help.

IOL with this:

The family comprises Mufti Rashid Moosagie, an Islamic educator, his wife, daughter, two sons, a daughter-in-law and a grandchild.

His brother, Moulana Allie Moosagie, said he hoped the family would return safely and realise its mistake in aligning with IS.

“I was very upset when I heard they left to join IS. I was in Saudi Arabia for Umrah (holy pilgrimage) at the time. If I was in South Africa, I would have tried to stop them.

“This has caused so much trouble in our family and has even put my family in danger. I have had no contact with them since they left but I have heard through other family members that they are trying to come back and want help. My nephew could have been killed.

“This is horrible. But praise to Allah he is still alive. IS does not represent Islam. Why must we (Muslims) fight someone else’s power struggle? I hope they have realised their mistake,” he said.

The 18-year-old son, Muhammad Eesa, is believed to have been involved in active combat:

In a Facebook post he bragged about how he had “beheaded an infidel” in Mosul, Iraq, last November. Eesa’s profile picture depicts IS fighters. He also shared posts with the details of credit card numbers of Iranian bank accounts…

In another Facebook post, Eesa shared gruesome images of dead babies covered in blood, with a post directed at a Facebook user who spoke of the French bombings.

You can see his Facebook page HERE but we’ll throw in a screenshot for good measure:

So should South Africa offer assistance? Martin Ewi, senior researcher on counter-terrorism issues at the Institute for Security Studies, believes so:

[He] said the family should be allowed to return and re-integrate into society on condition they provided a detailed account of their time under the jihadist group.

“We need to look at the bigger picture. This family carries a wealth of knowledge for our intelligence official and this can help them. If the family is remorseful and has realised that they made a mistake, as an act of compassion, they should be allowed to come back if they can co-operate and assist the government.”

Whatever the embassy’s decision, there are many in SA who probably won’t be welcoming this family back home with open arms.

[source:iol]