A Muslim RAF reservist told a military court today he refused a call-up order before the Iraq war because he feared he would go to hell.
Leading Aircraftsman Mohisin Khan was sentenced to seven days' loss of privileges and nine days' loss of pay for going absent without leave in February and March.
But he told a judge advocate hearing his appeal against the ruling at RAF Uxbridge in west London that his faith made him think the war was "unjustified".
Dressed in combat fatigues, the 24-year-old from Woodbridge, Suffolk, said: "As a Muslim you are not allowed to fight against someone else unless it is for self-defence. I didn't think it was a right war to fight because we were not defending ourselves.
"That is why, as a Muslim, if I was part of that conflict I didn't want to bejudged on that by Allah, the Creator."
Asked by his barrister, James Mason, what he feared would happen if he werejudged by Allah, LAC Khan replied: "It says in the Koran people go to hell.
LAC Khan, who took his oath on the Koran, joined the RAF as a medical assistant in December 1999 but left the service in April 2001 after complaining he was mainly being asked to perform "secretarial" duties.
He was granted early retirement on condition that he remained a reservist forsix years.
But between then and his call-up in January this year, his Muslim faith was becoming stronger "day by day, month by month" and he started to pray five times a day.
PA