ISIS bride's family call for government to help bring her home

Family of ISIS bride Shamima Begum issue new statement calling for her to be brought home They say she and her unborn child are both at risk after interview with the Times Family members say she should come home and face "British justice"
Asher McShane15 February 2019

The family of ISIS bride Shamima Begum have called for the government to help bring her home to face "British justice."

Ms Begum's family said they are "shocked" by the comments she made in a bombshell interview with the Times where she pleaded to be allowed to return to the UK to give birth on the NHS.

Ms Begum's family have pleaded for the 19-year-old, who is heavily pregnant, to be shown mercy and to be allowed to return to her family in east London.

They said they fear she is in danger from ISIS sympathisers after giving the explosive interview, adding that as a British citizen "Shamima has every expectation to be returned to the UK and be dealt with under the British justice system."

Shamima Begum when she was 15 and fled to join IS
PA

The discovery of Shamima by the Times in the al-Hawi refugee camp in the north of Syria sparked a national debate as to whether she should be brought back to the UK.

(L-R) Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15 and Amira Abase, 15 going through security at Gatwick airport at the time they first fled to Syria

Yesterday, the Government ruled out an effort inside Syria to assist Ms Begum.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Amira Abase fled to Syria with Ms Begum

"There's consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences."

Begum, now aged 19, fled to Syria in 2015 after being groomed by ISIS when she was 15 years old.

In a statement, her family said: "We, the family of Shamima Begum, have taken a few days to process all that has happened in the past years, and indeed in the last 72 hours.

"The news that Shamima is alive and well has come as a shock to the entire family.

Kadiza Sultana, 16, is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in 2016
Metropolitan Police

"We had lost all hope of ever seeing her again. We are relieved to know that she has been able to escape from IS territory. This in itself was a huge risk because if she had been caught that would have meant imprisonment and death at the hands of ISIS.

"We like everyone else were utterly shocked by what we heard Shamima say in her interview with The Times. But to us, those are the words of a girl who was groomed at the age of 15; we are also mindful that Shamima is currently in a camp surrounded by IS sympathisers and any comments by her could lead directly to danger to her and her child.

"Given Shamima's four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured."

They added: "Now, we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamima's two young children have died - children that we will never come to know as a family. This is the hardest of news to bear. The welfare of Shamima's unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events.

"As a British citizen, Shamima has every expectation to be returned to the UK and be dealt with under the British justice system. Shamima's child who will also be British has every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of his home.

"We welcome an investigation in what she did while she was there under the principles of British justice and would request the British government assist us in returning Shamima and her child to the UK as a matter of urgency."

Earlier this evening, Home Secretary Sajid Javid set out a hardline stance saying those who left the UK to join IS were "full of hate for our country" and should not be allowed to return.

Mr Javid said: "We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh (IS) were full of hate for our country.

 Sajid Javid said those who left the UK to join IS were "full of hate for our country"
Henry Nicholls/Reuters

"My message is clear: if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return.

“If you do manage to return you should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted."

Begum, Amira Abase, then 15 and Kadiza Sultana, 16, were pupils at Bethnal Green Academy in east London when they fled the UK in February of 2015.

They flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey after telling their parents they were going out for the day.

A lawyer for Ms Sultana's family said in 2016 that she was believed to have been killed in a Russian air strike.

The fate of Ms Abase is unclear. After Begum's interview her father Abase Hussen said he had not heard from his daughter since she left, but the comments gave him renewed hope that she may be alive.

Begum's plea to be returned to the UK sparked a national debate after the interview in which she said was not affected by the sight of decapitated heads in a bin. In it, she said she would "do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child".

Interviewer Anthony Loyd, who found Ms Begum, said she was a "15-year-old schoolgirl who made a terrible mistake... and we must do our best to rehabilitate her amongst our own people".

Her case has received high-profile backing, with a former MI6 chief saying the teenager should be given a chance "if we are to stand by our values".

But others rejected her plea, including the brother of Alan Henning, the British aid worker beheaded by Jihadi John, who said she should "absolutely not" be allowed back.

Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be "unreasonable" to expect the Syrian Defence Force to look after her indefinitely.

He also warned that summary execution is the "most likely outcome" for such captured foreign nationals who are handed over to Syrian or Iraqi authorities.

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