Jihadi bride’s baby dies after just 3 weeks Fanatic gave birth in a Syrian camp
THE baby son of runaway Islamic State schoolgirl Shamima Begum has died in northern Syria.
A paramedic working at the scene said the boy died on Thursday after suffering breathing difficulties and a lung infection.
Baby Jerah was taken to hospital but died at 1.30pm local time, the Kurdish Red Crescent worker told the BBC.
Earlier the family’s lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, tweeted of ‘strong but as yet unconfirmed reports’ that the three-week-old had died, adding: ‘He was a British citizen.’
The claim was disputed by Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces holding Begum, who said in a social media post that the baby was ‘alive and healthy’ and it was ‘fake news’.
But he later deleted the post and insiders in Roj camp where Begum was living confirmed the baby had died – after earlier saying he was still alive.
Syrian Democratic Forces then confirmed the news. Miss Begum, 19, gave birth to Jerah in a refugee camp last month, having lost two children to illness and malnutrition. They too had suffered breathing problems. The teenager had asked the Government to let her return to the UK but Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her citizenship after she showed no remorse for joining the terror group.
Jerah’s death will reignite the debate over what to do with British jihadis and their wives and whether Britain should have allowed Begum and her child back to the UK.
Speaking from her tent last month she broke down in tears as she said: ‘This boy is all I have.’
The Government could not confirm the reports yesterday because it had no one on the ground.
Responding to the conflicting claims, Mr Javid told the BBC: ‘Obviously I don’t know whether
‘Children dragged into war zone’
that news is true or not but what I will say, sadly there are probably many children, obviously perfectly innocent, who have been born in this war zone.
‘I have nothing but sympathy for the children that have been dragged into this. This is a reminder of why it is so, so dangerous for anyone to be in this war zone.’
Begum was 15 when she and two other schoolgirls left the UK to join IS in February 2015.
The teenager resurfaced heavily-pregnant in a camp in northern Syria last month and spoke of her desire to return to Britain, as the so-called caliphate collapsed.
She was moved to Roj this month from the Al-Hawl refugee camp after she was threatened by other IS wives for revealing her face during Press interviews.
After joining IS, the east London teenager married Dutch jihadi Yago Riedijk, now 27, who is now in jail.
He had never met his son, who shares the same name as a 7th century Islamic warlord. Riedijk, who is in a Kurdish-run detention centre, said last week that he wanted to return to the Netherlands with Begum and their son.
Begum’s parents are from Bangladesh but her family says she isn’t a dual citizen. The family has said it plans to challenge Mr Javid’s decision to strip her of her citizenship.
The decision came after Begum claimed the Manchester bombing, which killed 22 people, was ‘justified’. Speaking to the BBC, she added: ‘To kill people like women and children, just like the women and children in Baghuz [IS’s last stronghold] who are being killed right now unjustly by the bombings – it’s a two-way thing, really ... It’s kind of retaliation.’