A British jihadist who became known as “hungry Hamza” for his love of fast food has told how he watched malnourished children die and he shed five stone himself after joining the terrorist group
Hamza Parvez, 26, now a prisoner of war after the collapse of the terrorist group, regularly posted on social media about his cravings for KFC and Nando’s.
He spent five years fighting for Isis before surrendering to Kurdish forces last month following the caliphate's defeat.
He is now being held in a Syrian prison and claims to have lost five stone.
Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Parvez insisted he’d have never joined Isis had he known the reality that awaited him.
“If you was to ask me would you willingly go and join a group which consists of one, two, three, and four [euphemisms for genocide, rape, enslavement and murder] – anyone in their right mind would have never, ever, ever gone over to join something of that calibre.”
Parvez formerly filmed a recruitment video for Isis when the group was on the rise. Urging “all the brothers and sisters and all the Muslimeen [Muslims] in the UK” to stop sitting around in the UK and instead join “the golden era of jihad”.
He had already been fighting for six months in Iraq by the time the film was recorded, calling into question his protestations of naivety.
Parvez further criticised the “realities" of Isis to Mr Sommerville, saying: "Many kids did pass away of malnutrition. I blame the Islamic State for it 100 percent. Because they did have food.”
“Hungry Hamza” was regularly teased for his insatiable appetite by fellow militants and on social media and often called upon his junk food obsession to amuse followers.
When one Twitter user asked him:"If you had to eat only three things for the rest of your life, what would you eat?"
He responded: "Unhealthy. Spicy wings, cake, chips."
In an interview following his capture, the now gaunt 26-year-old asked a journalist from the Washington Post: "You don’t have to tell me what city I’m in, but can I ask: Is there a McDonald’s here?”
Parvez had lived a very different life in Britain. He attended Holland Park School in west London, which is known as the “socialist Eton”, and marched once before the queen during his time as a police cadet.
Professing his regret over leaving the UK to join IS, he told Mr Sommerville: “There was many times where I thought time to pack up and leave and there’s many times I did try to pack up and leave but the reality was that it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.
“It’s a small group of very big fish [in Isis] which make all the decisions for all the people.
"It could be life or death decisions, decisions which change people’s life completely.”
