Shamima Begum Claims She'll Help Fight Terrorism in UK but Won't Name Brits Who Joined Daesh: Report
10:40 GMT 19.09.2021 (Updated: 16:46 GMT 08.01.2023)
© AFP 2023 / LAURA LEAN
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Infamous ‘Daesh* bride’ Shamima Begum, who journeyed to Syria to join the terrorist group in 2015, lost her British citizenship in 2019 based on security grounds. She has been struggling to return to the country of her birth ever since.
Shamima Begum has no plans to reveal the names of British people who had joined Daesh (ISIS) terrorists despite her assurances that she would help the UK fight extremism in the country if allowed back in, the Sun on Sunday reported, citing a source close to her.
“She made out she’d help her country if she were given the chance,” the person said. “All the talk was about helping deradicalise kids and stop them from following in her footsteps. But she’s made it clear she won’t name any British IS fighters she met in Syria.”
“Some have survived and the intelligence is so patchy that her evidence would be invaluable,” the source added. “But for her it’s a red line. It won’t help her chances.”
The Case of the ‘Daesh Bride’
Begum left the UK in 2015 to join the terrorist group and live under strict Islamic law, but recently claimed in an interview to ITV’s Good Morning Britain that she had no idea that Daesh was a “death cult”.
“When I was 15 and was doing my research on ISIS, most of the research I was getting was from people online in ISIS because I thought that would be the most reliable source… and they were feeding me a lot of lies,” Begum told GMB, adding that she was clearly “groomed” and “manipulated” in joining the group.
Appearing in a vest top and a Nike cap, the 22-year-old said in the interview that she was “completely sorry for anyone” who had been affected by Daesh. She refuted claims that she was an active participant in the terrorist activities rather than simply a “mother and wife”.
Begum angered many with her 2019 interview to BBC during which she defended the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 as a justifiable “retaliation” for the West’s activities in Syria. She now claims she was unaware about what was really going on in the world.
In 2019, then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked Begum’s British citizenship on national security grounds. The UK Supreme Court also later discarded the girl’s appeals to return to the UK for a trial to contest this decision.
Javid told the media this week that he was still standing by his decision two years later, hinting that the mother of three children, all now dead, might not be telling the whole truth about her role in Daesh:
“I won't go into details of the case, but what I will say is that you certainly haven't seen what I saw,” the health secretary argued. “If you did know what I knew, because you are sensible, responsible people, you would have made exactly the same decision - of that I have no doubt.”
But citizenship-less Begum has continued to plead for “forgiveness from British people” and to ask for return to her home state – albeit referring to the UK as “your country” in the GMB interview.
The young woman also said that she might be of use to the British government if allowed back to the UK:
“You are clearly struggling with extremism and terrorism in your country. I could very much help you with that because you clearly don't know what you're doing,” Begum said.
“I want them to see me as an asset rather than a threat to them.”
So far, her public pleas have fallen on deaf ears and have only provoked more controversy and anger from the British public.
Based on the interview today I think the big problem Shamina Begum has is that in order to be “forgivable” she needs to downplay the enormity of her wrong doing, but in downplaying the enormity of her wrong doing she just comes across as unapologetic & therefore “unforgivable”.
— benjamin j borley (@bart1eby) September 15, 2021
I really really want Shamina Begum to come across sincere in this interview.. but she keeps missing massive opportunity's to.. I do believe she was groomed, threatened, frightened etc, but I also believe she knew what she was involved in 😢 #gmb
— KarleeWarlee (@KarleeWarlee) September 15, 2021
*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State), a terrorist group banned in Russia and a number of other countries.
