BREAKING: Primary Spokesman and Source for Syria Chemical Attack Narrative - a Muslim British Doctor Now Working in Syria - Had Been Imprisoned in the UK for a Year on Charges of Aiding Jihadists

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Dr. Shajul Islam was charged with terrorism related offenses and stripped of his license to practice in the UK

The primary spokesman on the ground for the story that Syrian president Bashar Assad attacked his own citizens with chemical weapons - a doctor and British citizen named Shajul Islam - had been imprisoned in the UK in 2012-13, charged with aiding Syrian rebels in the kidnapping of Western journalists.

After the charges were dropped due to the unexplained failure of the witnesses to appear in court, Islam was sought by British authorities for allegedly having information on the whereabouts of ISIS member "Jihadi John." Islam was later stripped of his authority to practice medicine in the UK by the General Medical Council.

I added "BREAKING" to the post title because this information has gone generally unmentioned in current reporting by the media, even as Islam's interviews and tweets have served as one of the main sources for the story of the alleged chemical attack. However, Islam's purported links to al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as those of at least two of his brothers were well-reported by the British media at the time.

Here are a number of stories on the attack from the New York Post, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Telegraph, featuring Dr. Islam as one of the primary sources (and in one case, the only primary source). None of them reference his past:

Dad cradles dead twins after Syrian gas attack 

"I can show you the evidence again and again but the world doesn't care" plea from British doctor treating Syria 'gas' victims 

Syria 'chemical attack': 11 children among at least 58 people reported killed in alleged regime strike on Idlib

And here are some of Islam's recent tweets that have been prominently featured in those accounts. He currently has 10.2k followers, including many news organizations.

But the possible links of Islam and his family to "Jihadi John" were written about in August, 2014. Here are three articles from the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and Breitbart:

Does this NHS doctor hold the key to identifying 'Jihadi John'? East London medic once accused of kidnapping journalists in Syria probed with his brother as hunt for world's most wanted man intensifies

Net closes on 'Jihadi John' as London pair probed

NHS Doctor With Family Jihad Ties Sought in 'Black Beatle' Beheading Search

Whatever you think about what actually happened a few days ago in Northern Syria, the scene of an alleged gas attack that has alternately been described as featuring chlorine gas, nerve gas and sarin, it is notable that Shajul Islam has turned up right in the middle of it.

From the Daily Mail, last July:

'Russia airstrikes are killing women and children… but MISSING ISIS': Struck off Brit NHS doctor accused of kidnapping Western hostages is treating bomb victims in Syria

• Shajul Islam, who was arrested for kidnapping journalists is back in Syria
• The NHS doctor and his brother were released after the case collapsed
• He spoke to US journalist in Idlib, northwest Syria about constant airstrikes
• Said there is a serious shortage of doctors and hospitals are bombed daily

A British doctor struck off by the NHS who was accused of kidnapping Western journalists has fled to Syria and is treating bomb victims, including jihadis.

Shajul Islam was arrested and charged with kidnapping two journalists in 2012 but was released after the trial collapsed when neither of the prosecution's witnesses were able to give evidence.

Dr Islam had always protested his innocence, saying he went to Syria to use his medical skills to treat victims of the civil war.

Now he has appeared in a video filmed in Idlib, in northern Syria, where he claims to be providing medical help to the victims of Syrian and Russian airstrikes.

Islam, from East London, who qualified at the University of London and worked as a doctor at St Bart's hospital, is currently removed from the medical register after a fitness to practise hearing at the General Medical Council in March.

After the criminal case against him collapsed, and he was found not guilty, he faced close monitoring by the security services.

The video published on YouTube yesterday for citizen journalist site On the Ground News, shows Islam wearing hospital scrubs and a stethoscope.

He tells American journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem that he is one of very few foreign doctors treating civilians injured in air strikes in north Syria.

Asked why he has come to Syria, Islam replies: 'I'm a doctor. There's a serious shortage of doctors. Anyone who is a doctor needs to be here. I don't understand why anyone who is sitting in England or Europe or America isn't here.'

According to a GMC report, a secret tribunal panel heard the disciplinary case against Islam in March this year and banned him for misconduct. The hearing was held in private so the details of the misconduct are not publically known.
Islam told Kareem that the situation in Syria was 'crazy'.

'You can't imagine the number of casualties and we don't have enough doctors to look after them,' he said.

'From my perspective 80 per cent of the victims are women and children. The air strikes are not hitting terrorists they are hitting innocent civilians. Imagine you are sleeping at home with your family and you are hit by an airstrike.

'Whole families are being wiped out while they are sleeping. We are seeing on a daily basis 10, 20, 30 people being killed by these air strikes. I want you to picture this: your family, your loved ones, your wife being killed.'

Islam blamed the Syrian and Russian governments for the deaths, adding: 'They are killing civilians, the Syrian government, the Russian and any other government that is working with them is aiding in killing civilians here.'

He said that he was based close to Idlib where the rebel alliance and some jihadi groups are holding out against a joint Syrian and Russian bombardment.

Islam described how air strikes had recently destroyed the main hospital in Idlib had been destroyed: 'The main hospital was hit and taken out of action, including the CT scan and the intensive care unit. ....serious trauma patients requiring CT scan have to travel a further hour away.'

He said that for many of his patients their injuries were so serious there is nothing the doctors can do for them.

Asked what was the emotional toll on him he told the journalist: 'Of course we are human beings and it is very difficult to deal with but we have no choice because we are limited in numbers of staff. We have to function 24/7 - it's not a shift thing.

'We stay in the hospital 24 hours for four days at a time and I have to be ready to respond to patients at any time from the air strikes,' he said.

UN officials reported that Idlib's national hospital was targeted by an airstrike on May 30, killing two dozen people including children.

Airstrikes on the city and the surrounding area including Binnesh and Jisr al-shoughour, which was taken by Al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra have intensified with reports of entire families being wiped out.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented several air raids across the province in the past week - in one instance killing eight people, who were mostly women and children.

At the time of his 2012 prosecution Shajul Islam, then 28, and a second man, Jubayer Chowdhury, then 24, were the only alleged British jihadists charged with kidnapping Westerners in Syria.

The pair — held in high security Belmarsh prison — walked free from court after all charges were dropped.

At the start of the hearing in November 2013, prosecutor Mark Dennis QC told the court that all evidence against the brothers rested on the two victims, who were unable to be called, and therefore could not proceed with the case.

A verdict of not guilty was recorded for the charge of kidnapping.

Media reports later suggested Islam may have held the key to the then unknown identity of Jihadi John, who was later unmasked as Mohammed Emwazi.