A High Court judge has banned a teenager from Brighton from following his brothers to fight in Syria.
Three of the 16-year-old’s older brothers have travelled to Syria where two of them have died.
The other brother was reported to have been wounded but was still fighting in Syria while a friend of the teenager had also been killed in fighting.
Judge Anthony Hayden said yesterday (Tuesday 17 March) that he was concerned to keep the 16-year-old boy alive.
In a ruling in the High Court Family Division he ordered that the boy’s name should not be published because of his age and made him a ward of court. He also said that the boy should be prevented from leaving the jurisdiction – England and Wales.
The teenager holds joint British and Libyan nationality, comes from Brighton and grew up in an extraordinary family, committed to waging jihad, the court was told.
Barrister Martin Downs, representing Brighton and Hove City Council, said that the boy’s uncle had been a prisoner of the Americans in Guantanamo Bay.
And that his brothers had fought in Syria for the al-Nusra Front, which was linked to al-Qaida.
The youngster had been involved in fights, Mr Downs said, and was on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of assault causing grievous bodily harm.
The court was told that council staff had found out that members of the boy’s family were making plans for him to travel to Dubai over Easter.
It is believed that this is the first case in which a judge has been asked to make a child a ward of court to stop them from going off to fight abroad.
