Jihadi bride ‘ regrets’ speaking publicly
ISLAMIC State bride Shamima Begum fi nally expressed regret yesterday – but only for talking to the media.
Begum left east London to join IS in 2015 with two other schoolgirls.
Now aged 19 and with IS in collapse, she has declared that she would like to return to Britain with her newborn son, Jerah.
But she has yet to express regret for joining IS or for the atrocities it has carried out.
She even claimed that the 2017 suicide bombing of the Manchester Arena pop concert killing 22 innocent victims was justifi ed.
But yesterday she did complain about her treatment at the hands of the media since she was discovered at the al- Hol camp in Syria.
She said: “They are making an example of me. I regret speaking to the media. I wish I had stayed low and found a different way to contact my family. That’s why I spoke to the newspaper.”
Last week Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum – married to a convicted Dutch terrorist – of her British citizenship so she cannot come home. He argued that she is also entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship so would not be left stateless. Her father Ahmed Ali, 60, has now backed Mr Javid.
Innocent
He told a newspaper yesterday at his home in Bangladesh: “I know they don’t want to have her back, and in this I don’t have a problem.
“I know she is stuck there but that’s because she has done actions that made her get stuck like this.”
Mr Ali, a retired tailor, added: “I am on the side of the Government. I can’t say whether it is right or wrong, but if the law of the land says that it is correct to cancel her citizenship, then I agree.
“If she at least admitted she made a mistake then I would feel sorry for her and other people would feel sorry for her. But she does not accept her wrong.”
In contrast, Begum’s family in Britain have written to Mr Javid asking for his help to bring Jerah over to Britain.
The letter to Mr Javid said the baby boy was a “true innocent” who should not “lose the privilege of being raised in the safety of this country”.
Her sister Renu Begum, writing on behalf of the family, asked how they could help the Home Secretary “in bringing my nephew home to us”.
The family said they have had no contact with Begum and had only learned she had given birth to a boy through media reports.
They made clear that they were “shocked and appalled” at the “vile comments” Begum had recently made to the media.
The Begum family’s lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said she was born in the UK, has never had a Bangladeshi passport and is not a dual citizen, which was confi rmed by the Bangladesh foreign ministry.