I’m proof jihadi brides deserve a second chance
They issue plea as head of MI6 admits even ‘potentially dangerous fanatics’ CAN return
‘Safety is the first thing to consider’
THE family of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum say they have ‘every expectation’ she will be allowed back to the UK – and called for her baby to be allowed to ‘grow up in peace’. They said Begum should be ‘dealt with under the British justice system’, adding they were ‘concerned for her mental health’.
They also told how they fear the 19-yearold’s life could be at risk from Islamic State sympathisers in the camp where she is living. Their comments came after the head of MI6 admitted the UK cannot stop British jihadis and their wives coming home.
Alex Younger, known as C, said even ‘potentially very dangerous’ fanatics can enter the country if they have nowhere else to go. He said last night: ‘British nationals have a right to come to the UK.’
His comments contradict the Home Secretary, who said he ‘will not hesitate’ to prevent their return. Speaking yesterday, Sajid Javid said those who are ‘full of hate for our country’ should not enjoy its privileges.’
Begum, who is nine months pregnant, caused shockwaves this week when she emerged in a refugee camp in northern Syria.
She is begging to come home despite having ‘ no regrets’ about her four years worshipping the barbaric terror group in Syria.
She has also pleaded to be allowed to keep her baby if she returns to Britain, The Times reported.
Begum – who claims she had contractions at the Al-Hawl camp – asked the newspaper: ‘What do you think will happen to my child? Because I don’t want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.’
She said she feared she would not see her husband, Dutch jihadist Yago Riedijk, again – but still loved him ‘very much’.
She added: ‘I knew that coming back to the UK wouldn’t be a quiet thing. It’s uncomfortable. If I ever do go back, it’ll be a long time before the cameras stop and all the questions stop.’
Begum’s family are considering legal action to force the Government to allow her to return.
She is believed to be among dozens of jihadi brides poised to come back to Britain as their medieval caliphate is finally brought down.
In a statement issued to ITV News, Begum’s family said: ‘The news that Shamima is alive and well has come as a shock to the entire family. We had lost all hope of ever seeing her again.
‘We were utterly shocked by what we heard Shamima say in her interview with The Times. But to us, those are the words of a girl who was groomed at the age of 15; we are also mindful that Shamima is currently in a camp surrounded by IS sympathisers and any comments by her could lead directly to danger to her and her child.
‘ We are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has endured.
‘The welfare of Shamima’s unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events.
‘As a British citizen, Shamima has every expectation to be returned to the UK and be dealt with under the British justice system.
‘Shamima’s child has every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of his home.
‘We request the British Government assist us in returning Shamima and her child to the UK as a matter of urgency.’
Speaking at a rare briefing on the fringes of the Munich Security Conference about Britons who travelled to Syria, Mr Younger said: ‘All experience tells us that once someone has put themselves in
that sort of position, they are likely to have acquired the skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous.
‘Anybody who has put themselves in that situation can expect to be questioned, and investigated and potentially prosecuted if they return to our jurisdiction. Public safety is the first thing we will consider.’
Mr Younger also warned that IS will ‘morph and spread’ even as US president Donald Trump prepares to announce the demise of the caliphate this weekend. He said: ‘It is a resilient organisation and it is reorganising – essentially returning to its natural state as an asymmetric transnational terrorist organisation.
‘And we see it therefore as we would expect, morphing, spreading out. You can’t use military force to kill an idea but you can use it to denigrate and disrupt the sharpest end of the problem.’
He said that fighters trying to return from Syria have ‘skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous’.
He said: ‘We have to be very alive to terrorist exploitation of new technologies and make sure that we are ahead of them.’
He also warned of a ‘resurgent’ Al- Qaeda which was currently reinventing itself, adding: ‘It is definitely not down and out.’
JIHADI bride Shamima Begum said she is no longer the ‘silly little 15-year-old girl’ who let herself be groomed by islamist militants. When i read that, i thought back to the plight of another 15-year-old.
Almost two years ago, olivia Campbell- Hardy went to the Manchester Arena to watch an Ariana grande concert.
However, along with 21 people — including other children as young as eight — the Bury schoolgirl was killed when a terrorist exploded a bomb packed with metal bolts and screws.
told of her death, her grief-stricken father said: ‘the ones suffering most are the young people in our family. their world has changed for ever. Suddenly it is not so full of joy and possibility.’
ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacre. this is the same murderous organisation Ms Begum, now 19, was with for four years.
She insults our intelligence to claim she was just a ‘silly’ 15-year-old.
Having been brought up in london and groomed online, she must have been well aware that islamic extremists killed more than 50 people on the capital’s Underground trains and a bus in the 7/7 terror attacks.
Since Ms Begum has been in Syria with ISIS, as well as the Manchester Arena bombing, there have been multiple killings on london’s Westminster Bridge and in Borough Market. Many will feel that, as a jihadi bride, Ms Begum is complicit in all these murders.
Despite Home Secretary Sajid Javid saying he’ll ‘not hesitate to prevent’ her return to Britain, i’m sure she will, as she hopes, ‘come home’.
indeed, the head of Mi6 says nothing can be done to stop British fighters and their wives returning to the UK. thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money would then be spent on Ms Begum — on policing, a possible criminal prosecution, NHS treatment, childcare, housing and even providing her with a new identity.
of course, the usual bleeding hearts say she’s a victim.
no she isn’t. olivia Campbell-Hardy and all those others killed or injured (and their grieving families) are the real victims — butchered by a murderous cult which Shamima Begum still shamefully refuses to disown.