Shamima Begum, known for her involvement as a jihadi bride with ISIS, has recently been photographed after years of exile. Leaving her family at just 15 to join ISIS, she lost her British citizenship and has since been residing in a detention camp in Syria.
Now 26, Begum expressed her yearning for home during a brief conversation with the Daily Express from the camp, where reporters observed her looking frail and pale. This reignited the debate on whether she should be allowed to return to the UK.
The fate of Begum’s two school friends, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, who also joined her on the journey to Syria, remains less known. The three former Bethnal Green Academy students, once academically successful, took a drastic turn in their lives.
Caught on CCTV passing through airport security in London and later seen at a bus terminal in Istanbul before crossing into Syria to marry ISIS fighters, the girls’ experiences within the caliphate vary. Begum claims she was a housewife, while intelligence sources suggest she had a role in crafting suicide vests.
Sultana, the eldest, married an American ISIS fighter and expressed her wish to return to the UK but eventually died in an airstrike. Abase married an Australian ISIS fighter who was later killed in a drone strike. Communication with Abase ceased, leading to speculations about her fate.
Begum, who wed a Dutch ISIS fighter at 15 and had three children who died, was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019. Despite legal challenges, including an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court in 2024, she remains hopeful of returning to the UK through efforts at the European Court of Human Rights.
However, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has adamantly stated that Begum will not be allowed back, emphasizing national security interests. The government’s stance aligns with the refusal to repatriate British ISIS members from Syrian prison camps, as highlighted by Trump administration officials.
The ongoing saga of Shamima Begum exemplifies the complex challenges posed by individuals associated with terrorist organizations seeking to return to their home countries.