A British-Pakistani man from Birmingham who works for an Islamist media organisation in northern Syria is set to become the first person since 2015 to be deprived of his citizenship.
Akif Razaq, 30, found out about the impending punishment when his family, who live in the Hall Green area of the city, were served with a notice by police on May 24.
The notice, seen by The Times, states that an assessment has confirmed that Mr Razaq “is aligned with an al-Qaeda aligned group” and that his return would “present a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom”.
There appears to be no evidence that Mr Razaq has used weapons or received combat training in Syria. The timing of the order, two days after the Manchester bombing, suggests that the intelligence services could be conducting a sweep of people who are suspected of extremist links.
“I was shocked, surprised and intrigued,” Mr Razaq told The Times via the encrypted messaging service Telegram. “I’ve never seen myself as a threat to my home country and it surprised me that others would see me so. I would have thought that a solid case was required to deprive me of citizenship.” He added that he would appeal against the order.
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Mr Razaq first travelled to Syria with an aid convoy in 2013. Two years later, he joined On The Ground News (OGN), a media organisation founded by Bilal Abdul Kareem, a US citizen and Muslim convert. OGN produces video reports from rebel-held areas of Syria, often focusing on the humanitarian fallout of the conflict. In December, its reporters remained in the besieged eastern Aleppo and continued to publish video dispatches as the bombs fell and the last civilians were evacuated.
OGN now operates from Idlib, the last patch of rebel-controlled territory in northern Syria, which is ruled by a chaotic and ever-shifting patchwork of rebel groups. They include the hardline Fateh al-Sham Front (formerly the Nusra Front).
The media organisation claims that it aims to provide “accurate English language news to a western audience regarding the Syrian crisis”.
However, sources in Syria said that it is in fact closely entwined with al-Qaeda-linked groups and promotes the group’s ideology. Last month, Mr Kareem claimed that he had been placed on a US “kill list” due to his work.
Rami Jarrah, a Syrian opposition activist, said: “They know how dangerous what they are doing is, and how easily they could be branded as terrorists, yet they continue to provide a platform for extremist elements. [They] have failed to report on abuses committed by a number of extremist groups, simply because they are aligned with them.”
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The 1981 British Nationality Act grants the home secretary the right to revoke citizenship of dual nationals or naturalised British citizens if it is deemed in the public interest or they obtained their citizenship by false means.
Between 2006 and 2015, 86 people had their citizenship revoked, a threefold increase from 2012 to 2013, when extremists began to flock to Syria.