London-A British man has said that he was shocked when he saw his son executing a captured prisoner in Syria as part of a group of children tasked by ISIS to kill captives.
The distraught man, who asked not to be identified, said the boy was ‘brainwashed’ by his mother, Sally Jones, after being taken by her to join ISIS.
He said he has not seen his son for three years,.
The 47-year-old mother of two, from Chatham, Kent, was declared one of the world’s most wanted terrorists by the U.N. after she fled to Syria with her youngest son JoJo, then aged 10, in 2013, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.
The man identified his son in a chilling propaganda video showing five boys murdering a group of fighters captured by ISIS.
In remarks to local dailies, he said: “He was brilliant, just a normal boy – always chasing bugs, going down the park. I have had to block it out. It’s been hard, we just have to carry on. It’s disgusting he’s been brainwashed.”
Jones gave birth to JoJo in Kent in 2004 but split from his father shortly afterwards. She then converted to Islam.
A friend of the father said: “Sally would send him texts that were disgusting. She would threaten to take JoJo to extremist rallies and leave him there. It was awful.”
After their split, Jones married a radical 25 years her junior, changed JoJo’s name to Hamza, and the three of them fled to Syria.
In the latest sickening nine-minute ISIS video, the boy is called Abu Abdullah al-Britani. Al-Britani is a nom-de-guerre often used by terrorists from Britain.
The other children are captioned as being from Egypt, Kurdistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
Wearing military fatigues and black bandanas, the boys point their handguns in the air before aiming them at the back of the heads of the captured hostages and firing.
The friend of the father added: “He was a happy boy, loving, caring, sensitive and a pleasure to be around. I’m angry at Sally for taking an innocent child who doesn’t know right or wrong. Children can be easily manipulated.
“He’s an innocent party and I want to know what makes a mother put her child in such a dangerous position.”
According to the Quilliam Foundation anti-extremist organization there are about 50 British-born children living in areas under ISIS control, although very few of them are believed to be westerners.
In the months that followed her marriage to the radical in 2013, the mother posted chilling threats on social networking sites and posed for photos with an AK-47, dressed in black with her face veiled.
Using the pseudonym Umm Hussain al-Britani, she said she wanted to behead Christians with a ‘blunt knife’ and praised Osama Bin Laden.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the video but was unable to comment further.