KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — PAS has cut off all ties with a member who reportedly joined a militant Islamic group involved in the current Syrian conflict, the opposition party’s secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said today.

Lotfi Ariffin was sacked in a PAS central meeting on May 11, PAS-owned newspaper reported Mustafa saying, adding that the expelled member’s family members have been informed.

“We received verified information about him leaving for Syria to join a jihad movement, so we made the decision to sack him. He no longer has any ties with PAS,” Mustafa was quoted saying on the Malay daily website.

He also said the Islamist party will sack any member involved in similar movements.

Earlier today, The Star daily reported Lotfi Ariffin as a PAS leader among a group of Malaysians who had gone to Syria and become a part of the jihadist activities there.

On its website, the local daily noted that photographs and video clips allegedly taken by Lotfi had been posted on the internet, as well as purported blogs posts of his activities in Syria by his supporters.

The Star also claimed that Lotfi had influenced a former drummer from a 1990s Malay pop group, Ali Ukay, to also join the Syrian battle.

Describing Ali as another militant, The Star reported the former musician and Lotfi were seen wearing fatigues and were armed.

In its report, the English-language daily identified Lotfi as being a member of PAS’s Dewan Ulama (scholar’s wing) who was also the party’s Kedah Youth information chief.

But Kedah PAS Youth chief Nasir Zakaria refuted the report when contacted by The Malay Mail Online today, saying Lotfi did not hold the post and did not even qualify to be in the wing as he had exceeded the age cap.

“He is about 40-something. To be a member of PAS Youth, you have to be below 40,” Nasir said.

Nasir also said he did not have any information of the involvement of any Kedah PAS Youth members in any jihad movements in Syria.

On May 10, just a day before PAS sacked Lotfi, local daily Sinar Harian published an exclusive interview with him on his activities in Syria.

In the interview, Lotfi said he had left his wife and six children behind in Malaysia to defend those who were oppressed in Syria.

He said he wanted to help the Syrian people to block the advances of President Bashar al-Assad’s military and to stop the army from allegedly torturing and killing innocent people.

He also said that he was fighting to protect the Syrian people that had become refugees in their own country, with some having no houses to stay in after they were destroyed.