Amir Khan describes jihadists as ‘brainwashed’

Boxing champion Amir Khan said he believe that militants are brainwashed, which pushes him to go to schools and talk to children to follow the “right path.”

“Kids don’t grow up thinking about going out and killing innocent people,” Khan said at a community event in Northern England. His comments were widely carried by British media.

His remarks came weeks after three schoolgirls from east London fled to join ISIS in Syria. The trio disappeared during the February half-term holiday. They have been identified as potentially vulnerable to radicalization after a classmate managed to board a plane to Turkey before them.

Khan is a British boxer. His grandfather was born in Pakistan and came to Britain in the 1960s. Since the beginning of his career, Khan has been in the political scene.

Speaking at the same event, Khan - who has been previously attacked over his race - described himself more British than the UK Independence Party, UKIP, because he fought for the UK in the Olympics.

In response to claims that cultural tolerance has been decreasing in the northwestern town of Bolton, where UKIP is doing well, Khan responded: “I’ve got nothing but a lot of love here from a lot of people.

“But maybe it’s because I’m probably more British than UKIP are because I represented the country in the Olympic Games."