Six years for mother who took toddler to join IS in Syria
A RADICALISED young mother who took her toddler to join jihadists in Syria has been jailed for six years.
Handing down the sentence yesterday, the judge said Tareena Shakil had exposed her 14-month-old son to a future of ‘indoctrination’ and ‘life as a terrorist’.
He added that the 26-year-old had told ‘lie after lie’ about her time in the IS stronghold of Raqqa, but had ultimately ‘embraced’ the terror group and wanted to ‘die a martyr’.
Last week Shakil became the first British woman to be convicted of joining IS.
She had crossed the Turkish border into Syria with her son on October 20, 2014 – after telling her family she was going on a beach holiday. It is thought she used a student loan to fund the trip. She also posed her son in an IS hat and appeared in pictures with an AK47 assault rifle and a pistol.
However she returned to Turkey in January last year, where she was held by border police before being arrested at Heathrow Airport on February 18.
As she was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court, members of her family shouted that case had been a ‘farce’.
However Judge Melbourne Inman QC was scathing in his ruling, telling Shakil: ‘In 2014 you had become radicalised. Your Facebook profile clearly demonstrated your support for IS. You published statements on Twitter that encouraged terrorism – including a photograph of armed members of IS with the message “believers are brothers”.’ He added that she had researched how to travel without arousing suspicion and left letters for her family indicating that she would not return.
He went on: ‘You told lie after lie to the police and the court including that you were kidnapped, were not responsible for any tweets and any incriminating photographs were staged against your will.’
But he added: ‘You were well aware of what assistance women could provide for IS. Your role was to produce the next generation of fighters. You embraced IS. You told your father that you wanted to die a martyr.
‘Most alarming, however, is the fact you took your son and how he was used. In your own evidence you described Raqqa as the most dangerous place on Earth.
‘The most abhorrent photographs were those taken of him wearing a balaclava with an IS logo, and specifically your son standing next to an AK-47 under a title which means “the father of British jihad”. The future to
‘Most dangerous place on Earth’
which you subjected him was likely to be indoctrination and life as a terrorist fighter.’
Speaking about the sentence, he said: ‘There has to be an element of deterrence to stop [those] who consider inflicting such risk upon their children.’
Wearing a black jacket and dark leggings Shakil – originally from Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire – waved to her family as she was led to the cells. She had claimed in court that her son had donned an IS balaclava because he ‘loved wearing hats’.
During the two-week trial, she also said IS forced her to pose with her son for propaganda purposes and had controlled her social media messages. However detectives believe she wed an IS fighter within weeks of her arrival, with the marriage later turning sour.
She was sentenced to four years in prison for being a member of a proscribed organisation – IS – during the three months she was in Syria. She was also given a further twoyear term for encouraging terrorism.
Shakil will be eligible for parole after three years, but must register her location with police for 15 years following her release.