A British family detained in Syria for links to Islamic State have begged for the chance to return to the UK and live a normal life.

Mother Safiya Zaynab, 51, and daughters Shabina Aslam, 29, and Alireza Sabar, 17, from Didsbury, Manchester, say they miss their independence.

The family, who left Britain in 2014, was interviewed by Channel 4 last month but their identities were only revealed last night by the Daily Telegraph.

Shabina Aslam, 29, and Alireza Sabar, 17, from Didsbury, Manchester, say they miss their independence

‘We all miss our life before, we miss freedom, independence, no fear,’ Aslam told Jana Andert, a freelance journalist for Channel 4, after being were picked up by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the town of Hajin.

‘We want to go back to England, back to my family, I want my children to have a normal life.’

Both Aslam and Sabar had children of their own while living inside the so-called caliphate.

Aslam, whose husband was killed a year ago, spoke of the difficulty of living where she did.

She said: ‘You can’t trust anyone, we asked the Syrians and Iraqis to leave but no one wanted to help us. The culture was completely different.

‘The Arabs never help the women, they just pushed them towards marriage.’

Mrs Aslam added that they never knew they were going to Syria and that they thought they were going to Turkey on holiday.

She said: ‘I don’t regret anything because we came on a holiday, which then turned into this.

October 13, 2018, shows hospital equipment placed in the courtyard of the National Hospital building in the northern Syria city of Raqa (file photo)

‘I don’t know how, it’s never been explained to me.’

Zaynab’s husband Sabar Aslam, still living in Didsbury, told the Telegraph last night that he split from his wife in 2014 and that he thought the family were in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Aslam, who claimed he didn’t recognise his wife and daughters in the Channel 4 video, said: ‘They left me four years ago and that’s the end of the story. She wasn’t happy with me.

‘They are not brave people they are very soft people. I don’t think they would be joining something like Isil.

‘The police have interviewed me many times. They asked me questions about them but they never said they were in Syria.

‘I thought she had gone to Saudi Arabia as all the time Safiya was talking about it. I thought she went there.’