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Home / World

British beautician moving to Iraq to work for pop star on ISIS hitlist

By Rachael Burford for Mail Online
Daily Mail·
29 Jul, 2017 08:46 PM3 mins to read

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Laura Jones, 24, is looking forward to her new job with Kurdish revolutionary Helly Luv. Photo / Facebook, Laura Jones

Laura Jones, 24, is looking forward to her new job with Kurdish revolutionary Helly Luv. Photo / Facebook, Laura Jones

By Rachael Burford for MailOnline

A British beautician is moving to Iraq to work for a feminist pop star on an ISIS hitlist.

Laura Jones, 24, from Fazakerley, Liverpool, has defiantly declared that she isn't afraid of the terror group and is looking forward to her new job with Kurdish revolutionary Helly Luv, reports Daily Mail.

Kurdish-Finnish singer and women's rights campaigner Ms Luv was put on the terror group's "most wanted" list after filming a music video mocking ISIS.

Miss Jones' new home will be Erbil, a city just an hour away from the last ISIS stronghold of Mosul.

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Miss Jones, who owns Aura Beauty Studio, told the Liverpool Echo: "I'm not scared because I know I will be safe and ISIS want you to be scared so you don't travel and they have power. But they are the minority in Iraq now."

Ms Luv contacted the 24-year-old via Instagram with the job offer and she is now preparing to make the move on Saturday.

Miss Jones said: "I asked her where the salon was thinking she would say Dubai or something like that.

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"When she said Iraq I thought 'as if'. I googled her and saw she was on an ISIS hitlist. That's the first thing I asked her about.

"She helps the Kurdish fighters who are all women and filmed a music video 2km away from the front line in Mosul."

Kurdish-Finnish singer and women's rights campaigner Ms Luv was put on the terror group's 'most wanted' list after filming a music video mocking ISIS. Photo / Facebook, Helly Luv
Kurdish-Finnish singer and women's rights campaigner Ms Luv was put on the terror group's 'most wanted' list after filming a music video mocking ISIS. Photo / Facebook, Helly Luv

The controversial video racked up more than one million hits and sparked death threats against the star.

It shows her throwing a petrol bomb and dancing with AK47-waving female Peshmerga soldiers, provoking some Islamist groups in Iraqi Kurdistan.

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But Miss Jones wasn't put off and decided to accept the job offer at the glamorous Luvion salon.

The role comes with a flat and a car and will see Miss Jones doing lashes and nails for Iraqi royalty.

She said: "When I tell clients I am going they all say 'You are crazy'."

"[But] I'm going because I've researched it and it's not actually risky it's one of the safest places in the Middle East."

She even hopes to get involved with Ms Luv's charity and campaigning work, which involves visiting the female Peshmerga forces who famously risk their lives to defeat ISIS.

Miss Jones said: "We haven't really spoke much about it yet but I think Helly wants help with stuff like voicing the women's rights in the more rural areas.

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"It's not certain and I don't know when because obviously I'm originally going to work in the salon."

The talented beautician will be joined by two other girls from Norway and Sweden who have also been recruited.

Miss Jones' boyfriend, chemical engineer Joey, 28, will join her later on in the year if the job works out.

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