- Shamima Begum has admitted that she accepted responsibility for joining a terrorist organisation.
- Ms. Begum, who lost her British citizenship for posing a threat to national security.
- She said, “I’m not this person that they think I am, though,” nonetheless.
Shamima Begum has admitted that she accepted responsibility for joining a terrorist organisation when she left Britain as a teenager to join the so-called Islamic State (IS) and that she comprehends why the public is upset with her.
Ms. Begum, who lost her British citizenship for posing a threat to national security, disclosed in interviews that she received precise instructions from IS militants but also planned the trip independently in 2015.
She gave the BBC podcast The Shamima Begum Story her first comprehensive account of her travel to Syria, saying she was “relieved” to have left the UK and that she had never intended to come back.
Ms. Begum acknowledged that she is now perceived by the general public “as a danger, a risk, and possibly a risk to them, to their safety, and to their way of life.”
She said, “I’m not this person that they think I am, though,” nonetheless.
Thousands of men, women, and children have been detained in Syrian jails and detention facilities since the “caliphate” of IS was overthrown in 2019. Ms. Begum’s situation is the most well-known of these. Many of them are refugees from nations that do not want them back.
The 23-year-old is currently engaged in a legal struggle with the British government to try to have her citizenship restored so she can move back to London. She had three children in Syria, all of whom passed away.
The main issue at the tribunal hearing was whether she was a dedicated IS volunteer who posed a threat to the UK or a victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
IS is well-known for its atrocities, which include beheadings, kidnappings, and mass executions. The group also claimed responsibility for attacks in the UK, including the Manchester Arena explosion and the London Bridge attack in 2017. Its terror cells were behind targeted attacks in Paris in 2015 and Brussels in 2016.
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