The family of an Athy educated soldier are pleading with authorities in Iraq to release their son who was arrested on Friday afternoon, along with two fellow soldiers.

Joshua Molloy, a 24-year-old British soldier from Ballylinan in Laois, was arrested alongside two other British soldiers when they were deemed to have entered Iraq illegally from Syria. Molloy and his comrades, Joe Akerman and Jac Holmes, were fighting against Isis in Syria as they fought with the YPG, the main Kurdish resistance group that fights the threat of Isis in the country.

So far the only statement released from the Department of Foreign Affairs outlined how they were ready to provide consular assistance and were trying to negotiate a release for Mr Molloy and his colleagues.

Molloy, who was educated in Ardscoil na Trionoide in Athy, went to Syria around one year ago and joined a Syriac Christian battalion, the MFS, out of disgust with Isis according to a report in the Sunday Times today.

He is said to have been in the British Army but left because he had not seen any action, while the report also suggests that he told his family that he was in Turkey doing humanitarian work.

Mark Campbell, a pro-Kurdish rights campaigner, is quoted in the Sunday Times saying that he has spoken to Joshua's family, and that they are extremely worried.

"Joshua's parents would like to appeal to the KRG to release him and his friends," said Campbell. "They have been fighting the Islamic State in Rojava with the YPG and have been waiting at the border for some weeks but it was closed by the Peshmerga. His parents [hope] that because they came to help the Kurds fight Islamic State they would be released and allowed to transit from Erbil to Europe.

"Joshua's parents are very proud of him. So they should be. We hear reports about Isis attacks and most of us aren't in a position to do anything but these brave fighters take it into their own hands to do something," he said.