If you knew what I knew..
»»Ex-home secretary Javid dismisses Isis bride Begum’s claim she isn’t a terrorist »»But she insists: They have nothing on me .. and Boris doesn’t know what he’s doing
HEALTH Secretary Sajid Javid has defended the move to strip Isis bride Shamima Begum of her UK citizenship – saying anyone would have made the same call “if you knew what I knew”. Javid, who was home secretary when the ruling was made in 2019, insisted he had arrived at the right decision “legally” and “morally”. He spoke out after Begum begged the public for forgiveness, saying there was “no evidence” she was a key player in terrorist acts after fleeing to Syria aged 15. Javid said: “The decision is both morally right, absolutely right, but also legally correct and the right one to protect the British people.
“I won’t go into details of the case but what I will say is that you certainly haven’t seen what I saw.
“If you did know what I knew, because you are sensible, responsible people, you would have made exactly the same decision – of that I’ve no doubt.”
Begum, now 22, appeared from Syria on ITV’s Good Morning Britain yesterday and said she was prepared to prove her innocence in court.
She insisted she could be “an asset” in the fight against terror in a direct appeal to the Prime Minister, saying she had been “groomed” to flee to Syria as a “dumb” child.
Begum said: “I know there are some people, no matter what I say or what I do, they will not believe that I have changed, believe that I want to help.
“But for those who have even a drop of mercy and compassion and empathy in their hearts, I tell you from the bottom of my heart that I regret every, every decision I’ve made since I stepped into Syria and I will live with it for the rest of my life.”
She said she would “rather die than go back to IS [Isis]”, adding: “The only crime I committed was being dumb enough to join IS.” Begum went on: “I am willing to go to court and face the people who made these claims and refute these claims, because I know I did nothing in IS but be a mother and a wife.
“These claims are being made to make me look worse because the Government do not have anything on me.” Asked is she had a message for Boris Johnson, Begum said: “I want to help with that with giving my experience from being with these extremists and what they say and how they persuade people to do what they do and to come to places like Syria.
“I think I could very much help you in your fight against terrorism, because you clearly don’t know what you’re doing.”
No matter what I say, some won’t believe I’ve changed SHAMIMA BEGUM APPEALS TO THE PUBLIC