IS bride’s family in plea over baby son

THE family of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum have written to the Home Secretary asking for his help to bring her newborn son to Britain.

The letter to Sajid Javid said the baby boy was a “true innocent” who should not “lose the privilege of being raised in the safety of this country”.

The teenager, who fled London aged 15 to join Islamic State’s selfproclaimed caliphate in Syria, said she wanted to return to the UK with her son.

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 Ms Begum and had learned she had given birth to a boy only through media reports.

They made clear that they were “shocked and appalled” at the “vile comments” Ms Begum had recently made to the media.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green, in east London, to join the terror cult in 2015 and resurfaced heavily pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp last week.

Her family’s letter said they had made “every fathomable effort” to block her from entering IS territory.

“That year we lost Shamima to a murderous and misogynistic cult,” her sister wrote.

“My sister has been in their thrall now for four years, and it is clear to me that her exploitation

at their hands has fundamentally damaged her.”

The Home Secretary revoked Ms Begum’s British citizenship in a move only permissible under international law if it does not leave the individual stateless.

It was speculated that Ms Begum, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, may have citizenship there but Bangladesh’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam, denied this.

Appealing to the Home Secretary, the family said they were “sickened by the comments she has made” but “as her family cannot simply abandon her. We have a duty to her.”