Is there a McDonald’s here? Once-pudgy jihadi ‘Hungry Hamza’ asks about fast food after capture in Syria
- UK-born Islamic State fighter Hamza Parvez is now in custody and claiming contrition
- Parvez said he lost 30kg during his five years in the caliphate
Five years ago, Hamza Parvez was a pudgy Islamic State recruit from West London known for his unusual social media posts about kittens, KFC and what passed for fast food in the so-called caliphate.
But as Islamic State’s territory receded, so did his presence online.
For years, the fate of Abu Hamza al-Britani, as he was known, was unclear. But the militant, now 26, ended up alive and held in a prison in northern Syria after surrendering to Kurdish-led forces outside the group’s final stronghold in Baghouz earlier this month.
His previous posts on Twitter, Instagram and Ask.fm in the early days of the caliphate revealed a duality not often seen in the social media traffic from Islamic State.
He toted a weapon and appeared – at least in his internet posts – to buy into the militant’s embrace of violence and anti-Western diatribes.
But he also had an improbable pining for Western junk food, cute kittens and a desire to settle down somewhere, marry and have kids.
One purported photo of Parvez – who one British tabloid dubbed “Hungry Hamza” for his frequent posts about food – shows him bearded, armed and eating ice cream in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which was once held by Islamic State.