IS bride has baby in camp
The Islamic State bride Shamima Begum has said that ‘‘a lot of people should have sympathy’’ for her after she gave birth to a baby boy in a Syrian refugee camp.
Begum, 19, ran away from Bethnal Green, east London, four years ago to live under Islamic State rule and was discovered last week, nine months pregnant, by
Anthony Loyd at the al-Hawl camp in Syria.
She has now given birth to a son, naming him Jerah after her first son, who died along with her daughter, Sarayah, while she was living with Islamic State. She appeared on Sky News with an unnamed woman who was cradling the baby, saying that she feared he would die in the camp.
Begum apologised to her family yesterday, admitting that it was a ‘‘slap in the face’’ to ask for their help after rejecting their pleas to return home in 2015. She said she had been ‘‘just a housewife’’ in Syria and that the British authorities had no evidence that she had done ‘‘anything dangerous’’ while in Syria. She argued that she should be allowed to keep her son but still appeared to refer to Islamic State as ‘‘we’’ during the interview.
The teenager said that her jihadist husband, Yago Riedijk, wanted her to name the boy Jerah. She said she did not know where her husband was but she wanted to make contact with him.
‘‘I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I’ve been through,’’ she said. ‘‘I didn’t know what I was getting into when I left. I just was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back. Because I can’t live in this camp for ever. It’s not really possible.’’
Begum said she was enticed to join IS by videos showing a life where you could ‘‘have your own family’’ and live under Islamic law. She said she was aware before she left that IS carried out beheadings but added: ‘‘From what I heard, Islamically that is all allowed, so I was OK with it.’’
Asked if she made a mistake, she said: ‘‘A mistake in going to al-dawla [the state]? In a way yes, but I don’t regret it because it’s changed me as a person, it’s made me stronger, tougher. I married my husband. I wouldn’t have found someone like him back in the UK. I had my kids, I did have a good time there, then things got harder and I couldn’t take it any more and had to leave.’’
Asked about her family in London, Begum said: ‘‘At first obviously they did try and ask me to come back, but I kept saying no. Then afterwards they gave up and now after four years I’m asking them for help now. It’s kind of a big slap in the face to them, but I really need their help.’’
She said she would tell them she was ‘‘sorry for leaving’’ and asked them not to give up trying to secure her return to Britain. She said she had no access to a phone or internet in the camp and had not been contacted by British consular staff.
Asked about fears that she may pose a danger if allowed to return, she said: ‘‘They don’t have any evidence against me doing anything dangerous. When I went to Syria I was just a housewife for the entire four years. I stayed at home, took care of my husband, took care of my kids. I never did anything dangerous. I never made propaganda. I never encouraged people to come to Syria.’’
She said of her time under Islamic State rule: ‘‘At first it was nice, it was like how they showed it in the videos. Then afterwards things got harder. When we lost Raqqa we had to keep moving and moving and moving.’’ She said she ended up ‘‘sleeping outside and there was no medical care so everyone was getting sick. My kids died of sickness.’’ – The Times