Shamima Begum, a former ISIS recruit from Britain, abruptly left an interview with a journalist who located her at the al-Roj detention camp in Syria, more than 18 months after she was barred from returning to the UK.
Begum, who departed the UK as a teenager, was denied reentry following a failed Court of Appeal challenge regarding the revocation of her British citizenship. Despite initially agreeing to an interview with the Daily Express, she stormed out during the discussion.
During the encounter, Begum, looking pale and frail, displayed dissatisfaction with the interview questions posed to her. Journalist Richard Ashmore recounted her uncooperative responses, including her reluctance to comment on her prospects of returning home, potentially influenced by current political circumstances.
Expressing a sense of entitlement, Begum challenged the journalist, implying she was owed something by the world despite her past decisions. Ashmore described her departure from the interview, oscillating between viewing her as a woman devoid of hope and as a petulant teenager throwing a tantrum.
Known as the ‘ISIS Bride,’ Begum ventured to Syria in 2015 with two schoolmates during a school break to marry an IS member. Alongside Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, all academically accomplished students from Bethnal Green Academy, she joined ISIS after leaving east London via Turkey. Despite Begum’s claims of being a mere housewife in the caliphate, intelligence sources suggested her involvement in sewing explosives into suicide vests, although she denied witnessing executions but admitted to encountering severed heads.
In a legal context, Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Home Office, emphasized national security as a pivotal aspect of Begum’s case, highlighting the potential risk posed by radicalized individuals, even if they were subject to manipulation.
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