Ella Gilbert
Back in 2015, 15 year old Shamima Begum and two other schoolgirls left the UK for Syria to join ISIS. She was found in 2019 and her British citizenship was revoked. This week she appeared live on Good Morning Britain begging for forgiveness as she claims to have played no part in ISIS terrorism.
Who is Shamima Begum?
In 2019, Shamima Begum was found nine months pregnant at a Syrian refugee camp. In an interview with Anthony Loyd, she said that she didn’t regret joining ISIS but that she wanted to return to the UK with her baby. The home secretary at the time, Sajid Javid, ruled that she was a security risk and stripped her of her citizenship. Begum is of Bangladeshi heritage but was born and raised in Britain. She was left stateless as she does not hold a Bangladeshi citizenship and the Government of Bangladesh forbid her from entering the country. Her baby died shortly after birth, which sadly was the third child she lost.
“They were clearly groomed, manipulated and taken advantage of, and it’s upsetting to see that not enough was done to protect them”
Begum has been left incredibly vulnerable as a denaturalized citizen who has publicly condemned ISIS. However, this is not the only time she has been failed by UK authorities. Two months before Shamima Begum left for Syria, one of her friends, Sharmeena Begum (not related), left the UK to join ISIL and is currently still missing. In the space of a few months, four girls from Bethnal Green Academy left to join extremist terrorist groups. These were children, who were in no capacity to be making such huge decisions. They were clearly groomed, manipulated and taken advantage of, and it’s upsetting to see that not enough was done to protect them, even after Sharmeena left to join ISIL.
“It will be difficult for Begum to prove she is no longer connected to ISIS but this is the same with most former members”
Can she be trusted?
In her interview with Good Morning Britain, Shamima Begum offered to help the British Government fight the UK’s battle with terrorism. She has been deemed a security threat due to her previous involvement with ISIS yet, as Susanna Reid pointed out, there have been hundreds of former-ISIS members allowed to return to the UK. Trusting her would naturally come with risks. It will be difficult for Begum to prove she is no longer connected to ISIS but this is the same with most former members. However, Begum would presumably be tightly watched by intelligence upon her potential return to the UK. As such a high profile individual, there would be little opportunity for her to continue working for ISIS in the UK.
“There would be uproar over the government’s decision to backtrack and any future issues with ISIS could potentially be blamed on her”
Does her potential usefulness make a difference?
Public reactions to the interview have been overwhelmingly negative. Her public image has been tainted by comments made in a previous interview in 2019. Regardless of your opinion of her, most people can agree that her return to the UK would be troublesome. There would be uproar over the government’s decision to backtrack and any future issues with ISIS could potentially be blamed on her. Her insider knowledge of ISIS could prove to be very useful but it is difficult to say whether it would be worth the potential risks.
“Shamima Begum is only 22 yet has experienced a life most of us cannot even comprehend”
However, whether or not Begum has useful information on ISIS isn’t a deciding factor over if she can re-enter the UK. She was left at risk as a child, when she should have been ‘safe’ in the UK, which led her to be radicalised. She was failed by UK authorities as a teenager so these authorities should take responsibility for her as an adult. Any solution will be difficult but I find it impossible to believe that UK intelligence and authorities would be unable to keep track of one woman.
Shamima Begum is only 22 yet has experienced a life most of us cannot even comprehend. While she cannot be completely absolved of responsibility from the things she’s said, she was taken advantage of and indoctrinated with extremist beliefs. Had UK done more to protect children from being radicalised, perhaps the situation wouldn’t have escalated to what they’re dealing with now.
Featured image courtesy of Levi Meir Clancy via Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
Ella Gilbert
Ella is History and Spanish student at the University of Sheffield. She is the social media manager for Empoword and a keen writer for various publications. When not writing or studying (which is far more often than she'd like to admit), you can find her exploring the outdoors, going out for drinks with friends, or in bed with Netflix and TikTok.