Tauqir Sharif is an aid worker known for his activity in Syria,[2] his involvement in several convoys including the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla and Road to Hope, having his UK citizenship revoked based on accusations of Al-Qaeda affiliation, and his 2020 abduction by an Al Qaeda-aligned Islamist group.

After coming back to England he said he was having flashbacks having seen dead bodies and badly injured people, but also spoke of his desire to train as a paramedic and return to Gaza and other places such as Sudan and Haiti.

The ship finally docked in Piraeus port, Greece where British consular assistance[11] provided them with papers while they waiting to get their passports returned to them from Libya.

[13] Sharif and his wife Raquel Hayden Best have worked on a project to build a school for women and children as well as with a number of other charities.

[4] In 2016 the BBC published video footage of Sharif working in the rebel held areas of Idlib province, in which he was assisting internally displaced people, who had just arrived from Aleppo.

[15][16] ITV published footage of Sharif distributing food aid and delivering medical supplies to a hospital in Aleppo which was shown on News at Ten.

[22] Moazzam Begg highlighted specific issues in challenging cases such as Sharif's through the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in an interview in a TRT World documentary.

[13] On 22 June 2020, Sharif was captured and detained by the Al Qaeda aligned salafist jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS),[25] the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed.

[27] Cage advocacy organization called on HTS to confirm that Sharif was being treated humanely;[28]"Despite his immense sacrifices, Tox [(a nickname for Sharif)] has endured assaults by the [Assad] regime, survived bombing attempts by ISIS [Islamic State] and had his nationality revoked by the British government without any evidence presented against him.

[29] A spokesperson for HTS, Taqi al-Deen Omar revealed that the group's motives for the detention related to allegations of the "mismanagement of humanitarian funds and its use towards projects that sow sedition and division".

[2] In March 2015, following an airstrike close to their family home, Al Jazeera reported on Sharif's exasperation at the delays in obtaining a UK passport for his baby daughter who was born in Turkey in 2013.

Shortly after the birth of his daughter he had submitted document to the British passport office, and for eight months he received no response to emails and phone calls.