Anjool Malde, 28.12.2003

Manchester University student Urslaan Khan made the headlines earlier this month, arrested in Iraq on suspicion of trying to join a group fighting coalition troops. An inquisitive individual with a philosophical outlook on life, he finally returned safely to the United Kingdom for the Christmas vacation, able to give his side of the story.

On a break from studies at Egypt’s University of Alexandria, he had initially travelled to Jordan at the start of a planned pilgrimage to find the Saudi embassy closed. “So I considered Iraq as an alternative and took a £7 coach down there. I was there for tourism”, he calmly says. “I wanted to see how the people of Iraq were coping with the new situation.”

An interview with Urslaan Khan