Tunisia – Anwar Bayoud, son of Tunisian Brigadier Fathi Bayoud, confessed Counterterrorism Forces in Tunis of joining ISIS terrorist organization in Syria.

He admitted to repeatedly going to two mosques in Tunis, one of them located in Nasr Neighborhood where his friends convinced him of joining ISIS in Syria for “charity work,” as they claimed.

Anwar said he contacted the terrorist group through one of his old friends, and they convinced him to travel to Syria and Iraq. The group also told him that their presence in Syria is for the purpose of protecting the Islamic religion.

During his testimony, Anwar affirmed that he had joined ISIS for humanitarian services for war casualties, as he called them.

According to Anwar, he escaped ISIS when he was asked to join the fight and take part in the “Jihad”.

Anwar added that when ISIS asked him and his wife, whom he married to follow ISIS’ customs, to join the battles he escaped with the help of some Syrian, Iraqi and Tunisian contacts there.

Court of First Instance Spokesperson Sufian al-Sulaiti said that the Tunisian authorities referred Anwar to the Counterterrorism Forces after he returned to Tunisia from Turkey.

Sulaiti said that the authorities began an investigation on Anwar Bayoud for joining a terrorist organization.

Sources revealed that Anwar didn’t resist arrest when he arrived to Tunis. He showed remorse and was stunned probably due to the incidents he witnessed since first starting his journey to join ISIS till his father’s death.

Sources revealed that Brigadier Bayoud had headed to Turkey seeking out his son who was said to have escaped home to join ISIS ranks in Syria. Anwar was a student attending the Tunisian aviation academy.

Bayoud later learnt that his son decided on joining the terrorist group in Syria, leaving Tunisia. The young man succeeded in slipping into Turkish grounds later becoming out of reach. With the son disappearing, Bayoud was forced to go search at the last place his son was cited, Turkey.

Bayoud was conducting a thorough search for two months trying to find his son and relieving him from the deep trouble he was caught up in. The loving father, at the wrong place and time, was waiting his wife and daughter’s arrival to the Ataturk airport.

After knowing about his father’s death, Anwar had a nervous breakdown which prompted his admittance to the psychiatric ward of the Military hospital in Tunis.

Judicial sources pointed out that it is a normal procedure to transfer the convict to the hospital if he turned to suffer from any psychological problems.

The sources added that based on doctor’s reports, it will be decided whether he will stay in one of the hospitals or be taken back to investigation.