British ISIS plotter from Liverpool jailed again after attempting to leave UK for Africa

A Muslim convert from Liverpool who previously sought to join ISIS in Syria has been jailed again after police halted his attempt to leave the United Kingdom for North Africa.

Ismael Watson, 35, a ginger-haired former Amazon worker who previously used the name Jack, was jailed for five years after being arrested in Turkey in July 2016 and deported. He told an undercover officer that his pregnant wife — whom he had met on the Pure Matrimony dating site — had "snitched" on him, and he said police were alerted when he left the country. He also warned that he had gelled his hair down to appear like a Syrian refugee in an effort to cross the border and join ISIS.

Watson was released from custody on February 25, 2022 after serving his full five-year term because he failed to complete a de-radicalisation programme. He subsequently found work as a cleaner at a PureGym, but probation officers noted that he frequently claimed he was too busy to meet and, by 2023, he had begun making travel plans that raised concerns among authorities.

In February 2023 he went to the Liverpool Passport Office to apply for a new passport, saying he had lost the previous one. That November, he told a probation officer that he intended to travel to Marrakesh, Casablanca and Mauritania because he had married a woman in Morocco and wished to join her there or to bring her to the United Kingdom. At the time, the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to Mauritania due to terrorism-related risks and the growth of groups linked to Islamic State in the country.

On January 6 of the following year, then-Home Secretary James Cleverly withdrew the new passport under the Royal Prerogative. Nonetheless, on February 26, Watson told police he planned to travel to Dublin by coach, returning on March 9. He did not return for several months and later “went to ground.”

He was stopped by police on September 13 while being driven through Kent. He claimed his name was Ali Naseer and was not detained, but three days later he was arrested at the Dover Hotel in Pimlico, London, for failing to comply with his notification requirements. He had checked into the hotel with his partner under the name Samir Musthapha from Newcastle and paid £85 for a room the previous day.

Watson provided officers with two four-digit PIN codes and one six-digit PIN for his phone. The two four-digit codes failed to unlock the device, while the six-digit PIN acted as a "kill code" that wiped the phone’s memory.

Serena Gates, prosecuting, told Woolwich Crown Court that the defendant’s recent travel history and in particular his apparent attempts to sidestep notification requirements by going to Ireland and providing a kill code not accepted by the prosecution were telling. She noted Watson’s 2016 statements in which he expressed hatred for Western society and his stated intent to participate in terrorist violence, underscoring the risk he posed should he be allowed to travel again.

Watson was jailed for 28 months. Judge Andrew Lees told the court that there was a need for firm, deterrent punishment given the history and the nature of the breach, and he ordered Watson to serve the sentence in custody.

The case illustrates ongoing concerns about individuals who have traveled abroad for extremist purposes or attempted to re-enter the country after periods of radicalisation and travel. Authorities continue to monitor cases related to foreign travel, dual-use planning, and the ability of individuals to disconnect from official channels while pursuing clandestine activity, a dynamic that remains a focus of counterterrorism efforts across the United Kingdom.