‘Use me as an example against radicalisation’
SHAMIMA BEGUM MAKES A FRESH PLEA TO RETURN TO UK
LONDONDER Shamima Begum, who left her home as a teenager to join Daesh (Islamic State group), has made a fresh plea to come back to the UK, saying she can be used by British deradicalisation authorities as an example that others should not emulate.
Born to Bangladeshi immigrants in London in 1999, she left the UK for Syria in 2015 to join Daesh when she was 15. Now 22, she was stripped of her UK citizenship in 2019 and the UK Supreme Court ruled on national security grounds that she could not return to Britain to appeal against the government action.
In her latest attempt to return to the country of her birth, Begum suggested she was now a transformed person who could become a “voice against radicalisation”. “The problem is at the age of being a teenager, you’re very arrogant and you don’t listen to people so sometimes you really do have to learn the hard way,” she told i News.
Begum, who has switched to western outfits from traditional Islamic clothing, said, “I could be used as an example, like, ‘You don’t want to end up like her…’ If it stops children from making the same mistake that I made, of course, use me as an example. Tell the kids, ‘Don’t be like her, don’t become like her’.”
Accused of helping to sew explosive vests on to suicide bombers, she could potentially face trial as officials are investigating her links with the terror group.
She is currently held at the al-Roj prison camp in Syria and fears she could ultimately face the death sentence for her terror offences. She claimed she had been tricked to travel to Syria to be a “bride” like other British girls who also made similar journeys.
“It’s hard to believe, but that did happen. It happened so fast, it happened in less than a year,” she said.
Despite her renewed plea for the restoration of her British citizenship, she believed she would have to spend the rest of her life in Syria, media reports said.