Do not allow Begum back to UK, says former IS bride
THE first British woman convicted of joining Islamic State says Shamima Begum should not be allowed back to the UK because she only tried to return after the brutal terror group collapsed.
Tareena Shakil, 32, from Birmingham, travelled to Syria in 2014 with her young son to join IS but after several months under the murderous regime she became disillusioned and escaped.
She was arrested at Heathrow in 2015 and later jailed for six years for being a member of IS and encouraging acts of terror. In her first interview since release from prison, Shakil said she regretted her actions, but added: “I was far from the best version of myself.”
Asked about other IS volunteers, such as Begum, who is now appealing to return to the UK, Shakil expressed reservations about allowing her to do so.
On ITV’S Tareena: Return from Isis, she said: “I can’t say, ‘no, don’t bring them back’ because that makes me a hypocrite, because I’ve been in a very similar situation.” But she added: “It’s not the same situation because I escaped, chose to leave when Isis were at their peak, as opposed to waiting for the fall of Isis and then saying, ‘I want to come home’.”
Shakil added: “Having said that, there may be reasons that these people didn’t escape from there. It takes strength, courage, like it’s life and death, not everybody has it in them to go for that.”
Begum left the UK aged 15 and joined IS, married a jihadist and had three children, all of whom died. She is held in a detention centre in north-east Syria and challenging the Government’s decision to revoke her British citizenship .
Shakil and Begum are among around 900 British nationals who travelled to Syria to join or fight for IS, including dozens of so-called jihadi brides.
Shakil knew of the executions by IS before she decided to travel there with her one-year-old son. “I was aware of violence at the hands of Isis, it was everywhere,” she said. “Being aware of horrific things that were happening in that place and still deciding to run away, not just on your own, with your child. It’s not something that I’m happy about now, looking back,” she added.
Shakil’s relationship with her son has been difficult. “I came home and I was seeing him in a contact centre and he really didn’t want anything to do with me. I would kiss him, he’d wipe the kiss off. He’d ask when am I going home?
“We’ve gone from that to a really good relationship, to the point where he tells me he loves me.”
‘Tareena: Return From Isis’ is now available via the ITV Hub