World Muay Thai boxing champion joins ISIS

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Valdet GashiA 29-year old German kickboxer and a two-time Muay Thai world champion of Albanian descent, Valdet Gashi, has joined ISIS and left for Syria to fight with the Islamists, Swiss media reports.

According to Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen program Rundschau, Gashi joined ISIS in early January 2015 and had been concealing his location for months, leading his family to believe he was in Thailand.

SRF journalists reached Gashi via telephone at some point in mid-May.

During the 90-minute conversation, Gashi told journalists that he had a deep and profound understanding of the ISIS ideology and would be willing to die for it.

“I want to do something good and to die while doing it. That is what would make me happy,” Gashi stated.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, he asked his friends and family not to condemn his decision.

Valdet Gashi

Speaking with Switzerland’s 20 Minuten News, he elaborated on his Facebook post, going on to say that his friends and family “did not know the whole story.”

The SRF reported that Gashi is taking part in the establishment of a caliphate, with his job consisting of patrolling an area along a stretch of the Euphrates, tracking down smugglers and spies. He operates primarily near the city of Membij, close to the Turkish border.

Some Muay Thai fans have responded to the news on Twitter, with one requesting that Gashi be stripped of all his titles.

It was also revealed that Gashi did not leave immediately for Syria after committing to ISIS. Instead, he traveled to the Swiss town of Winterthur, where he formed a mixed martial arts school named Mixed Martial Arts Sunna. According to Facebook, the gym is still open six days out of the week.

20 Minuten also reported that Gashi recruited three young men that were all under his tutelage, to join ISIS, including the sister of one of the young men. All three trainees attended the same mosque in Winterthur.

Valdet Gashi

One of the trainees, 20-year-old Hajan, also known as “Ibn Muhammad Al-Kurdi,” was killed in Syria. In a Facebook post dating back to March, Gashi mourned the death of his friend and claimed they would meet again in “Jannah al firdaus,” also known as the Muslim seventh sky, and the Islamic conception of paradise.

The highest level of Jannah is firdaus, where in Islam, the prophets, martyrs, and the most truthful people will reside in the afterlife.

Atef Shanoun, President of the Winterthur Mosque Association, revealed that this means that Gashi is seeking a martyr’s death through jihad, which means war or struggle against unbelievers.

Enver Gashi, Valdet’s father, has called on his son to return home and to “stop this nonsense.”

“Valdet’s place is with us – with his children, his wife, and his parents.

“I want him to stop this nonsense and I hope he’ll come back to us one day because his place is here and nowhere else.”

According to the SRF, Gashi left behind his wife and two small daughters, one who was born months before he left for Syria.