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Ifthekar Jaman was a British man who was one of the first British fighters to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in 2013.^[1] He was notable for his posts on social media about his life in ISIL and for persuading other men he knew from his hometown to join, before he was killed by Syrian government forces in December 2013 at age 23.^[1][2][2][3]

Jaman was born in Portsmouth, England of first-generation Bangladeshi immigrant parents who ran a restaurant^[2] and had lived in the UK since 1981.^[4] He has a sister and two brothers.^[4] When he was about eleven or twelve years old, his parents sent him to a madrassa in London for a year.^[2][4] In his late teens, Jaman was part of the "Portsmouth Dawah Team" who proselytized Islam on the streets of Portsmouth.^[2] Prior to traveling to Syria, he posted a tweet in support for Anwar Al-Alwaki,^[2] and also said, "I love Osama Bin Laden, I think he looks kinda cool."^[5] He was popular with his non-Muslim colleagues at work.^[1]

In May 2013, Jaman quit his job at a call center^[5] and left the UK alone.^[1] He said he was going to the Middle East to study Arabic^[1][2][4] and possibly help with refugees from the Syrian civil war.^[4] He flew to Turkey and took a bus to the town of Reyhanli on the Syrian border.^[1][2]

His family back in England stated he had become concerned about the plight of Syrian civilians and they believed he had gone there to help.^[5] His brother Tuhin later stated Jaman had "sacrificed his life, he's done something for the oppressed people."^[5] His brother Mustakim told the BBC Jaman posed no threat to the UK, as he had no intention of ever returning there.^[3]

Jaman told Shiraz Maher, in an interview in November 2013,^[4] that on while on a bus in Turkey he met a man who guessed he was a jihadist. The man crossed the Syrian border with him and took him to his home in Aleppo. He initially hoped to join Al-Nusra Front but was rejected because he had no one who could vouch for him.^[1][2] He decided not to join Ahrar Al-Sham because that organization allowed its members to smoke, which Jaman considered sinful.^[1] At a coffee shop he met an Algerian member of ISIL, which Jaman said he had previously never heard of, and he ultimately joined ISIL.^[1][2]

Jaman posted photos and videos about his life in Syria on Facebook,^[6] Twitter and Instagram, calling it "five star jihad"^[2] and encouraging Muslims to come to Syria.^[1] He used the nom de guerre Abu Abdur Rahman al-Britani and, after his training period ended, was initially assigned to guard duty.^[7] He had 3,000 Twitter followers and answered questions on Ask.fm, telling one user it was not necessary to learn Arabic before traveling to Syria.^[5] He justified his decision to fight in Syria saying, "A man leaves his home to fight for the oppressed people... sounds heroic until you add in 'Muslim man'. Then he's a terrorist/extremist."^[5] In an interview with the BBC he said it was his "duty" to join the fight because Muslims were "being slaughtered."^[3] In November 2013, he gave an interview with Newsnight and said, "I am ISIS. This is the group I am with. We are trying to establish the law of God, the law of Allah."^[6] He said Britain should not worry about fighters like himself returning home.^[4]

He is known to have convinced a group of five Bangladeshi-British^[7] men he knew from Portsmouth^[1] to come to Syria to join ISIL in October 2013^[8]: his cousin^[1][2] Asad Uzzaman, Muhammad Hamidur Rahman, Mamunur Mohammed Roshid; Mashudur Choudhury; and, Muhammad^[9] Mehdi Hassan.^[1] In the months before the group traveled they had all been active in the Portsmouth Dawah Team, distributing pamphlets and copies of the Quran.^[1] They flew out of Gatwick Airport and traveled to Reyhanli, where they met with a group of three other British men who were from Manchester, one of whom was Raphael Hostey.^[4] Jaman had asked the Portsmouth group to meet the Manchester group and vet them.^[10] After meeting one another, the two groups contacted Jaman, who helped them cross the border into Syria.^[9]

On December 15, 2013,^[4] in what the Jamestown Foundation's Militant Leadership Monitor said was "apparently his first actual involvement in combat,” he was killed by a tank in the village of Ghwaza al-Khair near the city of Deir ez-Zor, months after arriving in Syria."^[2]

After Jaman's death, his brother Mustakim told Channel 4, "He died protecting the people. He fought for his God and the people itself... His martyrdom is such a noble way someone can go out."^[5]

Of the five men from Portsmouth he was able to recruit, only one survived. Mashudur Choudhury returned to Britain shortly after his arrival in Syria,^[11] and was arrested when he landed at Gatwick Aiport.^[9][12] In May 2014 he was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts; the first British conviction for a terror offense related to the conflict in Syria.^[12] Choudhury was sentenced to four years, with half to be served in prison and half in the community.^[13]

Of the remaining four men, Muhammad Hamidur Rahman was killed in July 2014^[14], Muhammad Mehdi Hassan was killed in October of that year,^[15] and Mamunur Roshid was killed in November.^[1] Assad Uzzaman was killed in July 2015.^[16][8]

In October 2015, Jaman's brothers were both convicted of terrorism offenses for providing assistance for the Portsmouth group traveling to Syria, including using their bank accounts to transfer money.^[2][16] They were sentenced to six years each in prison.^[17]

• Shamima Begum – British-born jihadist (born 1999)
• Aqsa Mahmood – First UK women to voluntarily travel into Daesh territory, in 2013
• Sharmeena Begum – Missing British jihadist (born 1999)
• Tareena Shakil – Former English terrorist