Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

PA
UK

Shamima Begum says she did not hate Britain when she fled to Syria to join Isis

Begum left her east London home for Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2015.

SHAMIMA BEGUM HAS said she did not hate Britain when she travelled to Syria as a teenager to join ISIS and repeated her plea for a chance to fight accusations against her in court.

The 22-year-old said she has “hopes and dreams” but has no plan B if the British citizenship of which she has been stripped is not reinstated.

Begum left her east London home for Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 2015.

She has denied any involvement in terror activities and spoken previously of how she wanted to be brought back to the UK to face charges.

In an interview with Sky News, she repeated her denial of accusations that she carried out atrocities as part of IS (so-called Islamic State), saying they are “all completely false”.

She told the broadcaster: “I’m willing to fight them in a court of law but I’m not being given a chance.”

Of her decision to leave the UK as a teenager, she said it was not made quickly and that it was something she “thought about for a while”.

She said: “I didn’t hate Britain, I hated my life really.”

“I felt very constricted, and I felt I couldn’t live the life that I wanted in the UK as a British woman.”

She remains in the al-Roj refugee camp in Syria, which she said has become “more scary” to live in.

She said: “For a long time it wasn’t violent but for some reason it’s become more scary to live here.”

“Maybe the women have got tired of waiting for something.”

She said she would like to reconcile with her family “when the time is right”, explaining that: “I don’t think they failed me, in a way I failed them”.

Begum has previously told how she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, and had three children all of whom died.

She said when she goes to sleep she thinks of “my children dying, the bombings, the constant running, my friends dying”.

Your Voice
Readers Comments
42
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel