Ashraf Mahmud Islam (pictured in an image from his Facebook profile in 2016) travelled to Syria in April 2015 to join ISIS. In 2017, former Home Secretary Amber Rudd made the decision to revoke his citizenship. His father, Abdullah Islam, has now lost a High Court challenge against the decision

The father of a British-born man who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State has lost a fight to keep his son's UK citizenship - after he was stripped of it by former Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Ashraf Mahmud Islam travelled to the middle-eastern country aged just 18 in April 2015 while he was studying A-level law at a British educational establishment in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

As a result he was stripped of his citizenship by Amber Rudd in 2017, who said she did not believe that depriving him of his British nationality would make him 'stateless', as he also has Bangladeshi citizenship.

In the first case of its kind to reach the High Court, the IS recruit's father Abdullah Islam challenged the steps taken by Ms Rudd to revoke his son's citizenship.

He wants his son, who is now 22-years-old and being held in a Kurdish-run military prison in Syria, brought back to the UK to face justice and to be protected from facing the death penalty.

Today, however, his case was rejected as having 'no merit' by a judge.

Mr Justice Pepperall said: 'Ashraf is in detention in Syria and at risk of trial in the Middle East and the possible imposition of the death penalty entirely because of his own actions in travelling to Syria and engaging in jihad.

'The only action taken by the home secretary in this case has been to deprive Ashraf of his citizenship.

'He is not in peril in Syria because of that decision, but because he is being held on suspicion of involvement in the IS insurgency.'

The judge said Ashraf was born in London and 'appeared to have every advantage in life', living with his father, a barrister, and his mother.

Despite his father's efforts to track him down, he travelled to Syria and his family learned he had joined IS the following month.

At London's High Court today Mr Justice Pepperall (pictured) dismissed Abdullah Islam's case for his son to be given back his British citizenship. He wants his son brought back to the UK to face justice and to be protected from facing the death penalty

The decision to deprive Ashraf of his citizenship was communicated in a letter from Ms Rudd, then home secretary, which was received by Mr Islam in July 2017.

The letter stated the decision was taken because Ashraf was assessed as posing a risk to 'national security'.

Ms Rudd also said she did not believe that stripping him of his British nationality would make him 'stateless', as he also has Bangladeshi citizenship.

In May last year, after years of silence, Mr Islam received a message from his son, who by that time had been arrested and detained with other IS fighters, through the International Red Cross.

Ashraf wrote in a letter: 'Please do whatever you can and contact whoever you can to help.

'It's been four months for me here and no-one knows what's happening.'

How the British government has refused to take back ISIS recruits The British government has repeatedly made steps to revoke the citizenship of people who have fled to Syria to help Islamic State. Shamima Begum, who fled the UK to join the terror group in aged 15, was in February of this year stripped of her British citizenship by then home secretary Sajid Javid. Shamima Begum, 19, from Bethnal Green, east London was stripped of her British citizenship by Home Secretary Sajid Javid International law forbids nations from making people stateless by revoking their only citizenship. Britain believed that Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, held dual citizenship. But the country's minister of state for foreign affairs denied she would have this. Under the 1981 British Nationality Act, any Briton can be deprived of their citizenship if it is 'conducive to the public good' - and they do not become stateless as a result. A 2017 government report on the issue said the Home Secretary has the power to 'deprive a person of British citizenship' if it would be 'conducive to the public good'. However, this only applies if the person would not be left stateless. Her family has promised to fight the decision made by Mr Javid to revoke her British citizenship, but this latest High Court case could set a precedent for the future. Advertisement

The judge said Ashraf confirmed he had joined IS and mixed with other British jihadis in an interview with ITV News, adding: 'With masterful understatement, he said that he had made a 'mistake', that he wanted to 'come home' and that he would be willingly imprisoned in a British prison.'

He said Mr Islam believes his son was not involved in armed conflict, but that this belief 'would appear to be rooted more in hope than hard fact'.

He also said the evidence before him was that the Kurdish forces are likely to hand over former IS fighters in their custody to either the Iraqi or Syrian authorities to stand trial, which is likely to lead to the death penalty upon conviction.

He said there was no evidence whether Bangladesh would be willing to accept Ashraf if he was to be deported.

At a hearing in London in June, Mr Islam's lawyers argued Ms Rudd failed to implement a proper policy regarding the citizenship of British nationals abroad who are are real risk of being subjected to breaches of their human rights.

They also said that issuing the decision while Ashraf was abroad meant he was possibly still unaware of it, and therefore unable to appeal himself, and that steps should be taken to return him to the UK.

However, refusing permission for a full judicial review hearing, Mr Justice Pepperall said there were no arguable grounds for challenging Ms Rudd's decision.

He said: 'It is not clear how the home secretary is under any legal duty to make arrangements to repatriate Ashraf in order that he can be tried in the UK.

'Ashraf got himself to Syria and might well have committed serious criminal offences in the Middle East.

'However repugnant his possible fate might be to British values, any British citizen who commits serious crimes abroad is subject to local justice and cannot simply demand that the British government extricates him from a situation of his own making in order that he can face the more palatable prospect of justice in a British court.

'The British government routinely urges foreign states to respect the human rights of its citizens who are suspected or convicted of crimes overseas and, in particular, argues against the imposition of the death penalty anywhere in the world.

'The United Kingdom cannot, however, properly insist that foreign states allow our own courts to try British citizens for offences committed abroad.'

The judge said Ashraf may still challenge the decision to deprive him of his citizenship through the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

However, he said even in the event of a successful challenge Ashraf could only return to the UK if released by his Kurdish captors and freely allowed to leave Syria by the authorities.