ISIS bride Shamima Begum had claimed that she was groomed by older men and ‘friends’ online before she left Britain to join ISIS. Begum, the Bethnal Green schoolgirl, was only 15-year-old when she fled to Syria and joined the terrorist group ISIS. In an interview with Sky News, she added that she does not hate her country of origin, i.e. Britain. She claimed to have hated her life and felt very ‘constricted’ while living in Britain.
Donning a pink sweatshirt, black baseball cap and a mask at the prison camp in Syria, Begum no longer wears the black Islamic State dress. She rejected the allegations that she carried out atrocities while being part of the IS. Begum claimed when she left London at the age of 15, she was shown dreams of a paradise but what she really found was “hell, hell on Earth”.
Begum claimed that the only crime she did in her life was to travel to Syria on her own. “I’m willing to fight them in a court of law, but I’m not being given a chance.” In the interview, she said she would want to fight her case in Britain, but she might go to prison.
Begum claimed she was groomed by older men
Begum claimed during the interview that she was groomed by friends and older men online, maybe for months. She said, “(I was) groomed for weeks and weeks and maybe even months and months. It wasn’t just a decision I made very quickly, it was a decision I thought about for a while”. She added that she did not hate Britain but her life. She said, “I didn’t hate Britain, I hated my life really. I felt very constricted, and I felt I couldn’t live the life that I wanted in the UK as a British woman.”
Begum said she was scared of living in the camp. She said, “For a long time, it wasn’t violent, but for some reason, it’s become scarier to live here. Maybe the women have got tired of waiting for something.” She told the Sky reporter that her ‘high profile’ might put a target on her back as the other inmates would want to hurt her to make a name for themselves.
‘I failed my family’
When asked about the family, she said she misses them. “I don’t think they failed me, in a way, I failed them. When the time is right, I want to reconcile.” Begum currently do not have any contact with her family. While talking about her future, she said, “It’s hard to think about a future when everyone tells you that you’re not going to go back.” Notable, in an interview, she gave in September, she had held her mother and her ‘lack of love’ responsible for her decision to join the terror group ISIS.
Shamima’s husband, Tago Riedijk, is of Dutch origin. He fought for Islamic State. In a recent interview, he hoped that ISIS would rise again and he would start a family again with Begum. They got married shortly after Begum arrived in Syria. The couple had three children who all died. She also had two miscarriages. While her husband is looking forward to a possible life with Begum, she claims she neither misses him nor sympathises with him.
‘I am not suicidal’
A Dutch prisoner told Sky that Begum would often hide in her tent for weeks. Begum, when asked, did not give any reasons for that but said she was not suicidal. She has a group of women who support her at the camp and often stay together. UK authorities had revoked her citizenship. While Shamima is of Bangladeshi origin, the Bangladesh govt has clarified that she is not their problem.
Begum claimed to have no plan B if the UK refused to reinstate her citizenship. When asked if any British authorities visited her in prison, she denied it. She blamed the past interviews and reporting of her case for the current state of limbo that got created around her.
She was declared a threat to national security by the British government, and the Supreme Court had upheld the decision. Her citizenship was revoked in 2019.
Shamima had offered UK her support to fight terrorism
Shamima has been giving interviews frequently. In September 2021, in an interview with Good Morning Britain, she alleged she did not join ISIS to be violent. Begum claimed that now she understands that there is no justification for killing people in the name of God. “I apologize. I am sorry”. Her remarks came after the anchors asked her about the remarks she had made about the Manchester bombing that left over 20 people dead, including an 8-year-old child. At that time, Begum had said that the attack on Manchester was justified because “ISIS is being attacked by other parties”. In that interview, too, she had claimed she was groomed.
Begum also offered to help the authorities to “fight terrorism in Britain”. She had appealed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to re-enter the UK and stand trial. She also offered to help fight extremism and terrorism in the country. The two girls who went with her were Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. While Sultana died in a bomb attack, Amira is also believed to be dead, but there are speculations that she might be alive.
