The sister of a British jihadi fighting with Islamic State in Syria has urged him to return to the UK even if it means going to prison.
Konika Dhar spoke out after her brother Siddhartha Dhar, who now calls himself Abu Rumaysah, reportedly posted a picture of himself on Twitter last week, holding his baby son in one hand and an AK-47 assault rifle in the other.
Mr Dhar, 31, reportedly fled the UK while on bail in September, the day after being arrested in London with radical cleric Anjem Choudary.
Ms Dhar told ITV News that her 'kind and generous' brother had changed beyond all recognition since converting to Islam and being radicalised, and laid much blame at Choudary's door.
In a message to her brother, Ms Dhar told the broadcaster: 'I'm sorry if you think Anjem Choudary is your role model because he's not.'
She added: 'I still believe that being in prison would be better than where he (Dhar) is now and I want him to realise that as well because his perception of the repercussion is slightly distorted and not accurate and he needs to know that, it's not that bad and things will be okay if he just speaks to us and lets us in a little.'
Mr Choudary was arrested in September with eight others, reportedly including Dhar, as part of an investigation into alleged support of the banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun.
At the time Mr Choudary said the arrests were 'politically motivated'.
Speaking to ITV News today, he rejected criticism that he 'warped the mind' of Dhar, saying: 'If warping someone's mind and not being on a rightful path is believing in the sharia and wanting to bring your children up according to the sharia, then I am very happy to warp everyone's mind.'
Ms Dhar said her brother was misguided if he was taking his moral guidance from the radical cleric. “I'm sorry if you think Anjem Choudary is your role model because he's not…You can do a lot better than Anjem Choudary… you’ve got it all wrong.”
In the picture posted last week, Dhar was seen standing in front of a mustard-coloured pickup truck, wearing a thick military style coat and boots.
He cradled the baby against his chest with his left arm, with his son’s face peeking out of a tightly-knitted babygrow. Dhar held an AK47-style assault rifle in his other hand, with the barrel pointing toward the sky and away from his child.
The black IS flag is the Twitter account’s profile image.
Ms Dhar said the image with the hashtag Generation Khilafah – a reference to the so-called caliphate - had left her in disbelief after she viewed the photo.
'I was absolutely devastated and my heart goes out to my brother because I know it's not in him to be like that and I'm very sorry that is the image that is being portrayed but it's not right.
'Words can't describe how I feel and I'm absolutely devastated.'
She added that Siddhartha had 'a big heart, he's kind, he's generous' but that his actions in Syria had left his family baffled.
'He's giving and he would do anything for anyone and he's funny as well, he's got a good sense of humour.
'And I don't know what's happened it's just escalated into this tragedy but it's still not too late I believe so I just want him to get in touch, we're all trying to reach out to him.
'It's been very hard. But we just need to know he's OK and he can still come home.'
