Shamima Begum

Shamima Begum (born 25 August 1999) is a British-born woman who entered Syria to join the Islamic State in February 2015, at the age of 15. Her British citizenship was consequently revoked and she was refused re-entry to the United Kingdom with the decision upheld in the ensuing legal proceedings, Begum v Home Secretary.

While enrolled at Bethnal Green Academy, Begum and two schoolmates travelled to Syria. The journey was facilitated by an IS smuggler who was providing information to Canadian intelligence. Ten days after her arrival, Begum married a 23-year-old fellow IS member; the marriage produced three children, who all died young.

In February 2019, Begum was discovered alive at the al-Hawl refugee camp in Northern Syria by war correspondent Anthony Loyd. The following day, British Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship, stating that Begum would never be allowed to return to the United Kingdom. Begum initiated legal proceedings challenging the lawfulness of this decision. British courts ruled that Javid's decision had been lawful, with the Supreme Court refusing Begum's final attempt for permission to appeal on 7 August 2024. At the present time, Begum can launch no further legal challenge within the British legal system, but has, through her lawyers, intimated an intention to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). As of 2024, she was living in al-Roj detention camp in Syria.

Background

Shamima Begum was born on 25 August 1999 in London to Bangladeshi Muslim immigrant parents. She was raised in the Bethnal Green area of Tower Hamlets in East London, where she received her secondary education at the Bethnal Green Academy.

Islamic State membership

Travel to Syria

Together with her friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, she left the UK in February 2015, at age 15. They travelled via Turkey to join the ISIS in Syria.

Shortly after her departure, Begum's sister expressed hope that she and her school friends had travelled to IS territory only to bring back their friend Sharmeena Begum (no relation), who had travelled there in 2014.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said in February 2015 that everyone hoped and prayed for the safe return of the three girls to the UK.

Activities in Syria

Ten days after arriving in Syria, Begum married Dutch-born Yago Riedijk, a convert to Islam who had arrived in Syria in October 2014. This marriage may not be recognised under Dutch law since she was underage at that time. She gave birth to three children, all of whom died young; her youngest child was born in a refugee camp in February 2019 and, by March 2019, had died of a lung infection.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Begum had been an "enforcer" in ISIS' "morality police", and had tried to recruit other young women to join the jihadist group. The report said that she was allowed to carry a Kalashnikov rifle and earned a reputation as a strict enforcer of IS' laws, such as dress codes for women. An anti-IS activist was also reported by The Daily Telegraph as saying that there were allegations of Begum stitching suicide bombs into explosive vests so they could not be removed without detonating. None of this was proved, and much of what has been reported in media is denied by Shamima Begum. Later, investigative journalist Josh Baker posed as an ISIS member and was able to speak with the person responsible for convincing Shamima to join the group. A school friend by the name of Sharmeena Begum described Shamima as a "shy misfit" whose role has been greatly exaggerated in the media.

Role of Canadian intelligence

In 2022, investigative journalist Josh Baker retraced her route through Turkey and uncovered a vast ISIS people-smuggling network that facilitated Begum's travel to Syria. He also received hundreds of pages of secret files on the smuggler that revealed the man at the heart of the network, Mohammed Rashed, was conducting an intelligence operation. A serving senior intelligence officer confirmed to Baker that Rashed was a Canadian asset.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: "Obviously we know we live in a particularly dangerous world, the fight against terrorism requires our intelligence services to continue to be flexible and to be creative in their approaches but every step of the way they are bound by strict rules, by principles and values that Canadians hold dear… and we expect that those rights be followed. I know there are questions about certain incidents or operations of the past and we will ensure to follow up on those."

Separately published in August 2022, Richard Kerbaj's book The Secret History of the Five Eyes claimed that Mohammed Rashed, who helped her travel to Syria, was passing information to Canadian intelligence, which was known to the Metropolitan Police. This link was not acknowledged by British or Canadian authorities. Canadian intelligence was using Rashed for information on the Islamic State, while allowing him to help people to travel to Syria to work for them. Kerbaj said that he had interviewed many Canadian intelligence officers, who confirmed the timeline of events.

Intended return

Media appearance

In February 2019, The Times' war correspondent Anthony Loyd found Begum at the al-Hawl refugee camp in Northern Syria. She was pregnant with her third child and said that she wanted to return to the UK to raise her children, but did not regret her decision to join IS. Begum said she had been unfazed by seeing the head of a beheaded man as he was "an enemy of Islam", but believed that IS did not deserve victory because of their corruption and oppression.

When asked if she would be extracted from Syria, 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." Three days after Loyd found her, Begum gave birth to a boy.

Begum was interviewed by BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville on 18 February 2019. During the interview, Begum asked for the UK's forgiveness and claimed that she still supported "some British values". She said she had been partly inspired to join IS by videos of fighters beheading hostages and also of "the good life" under the group. When asked about the Manchester Arena bombing, she said she was shocked and didn't "know about the kids", then said it was wrong to kill innocent people, but that IS considered it justified as retaliation for the coalition bombing of IS-held areas. When questioned about rape, enslavement and murder of Yazidi women, she claimed, "Shia do the same in Iraq".

Begum's frequent visits from journalists at al-Hawl earned the attention of female Tunisian IS camp members who threatened her if she spoke out against IS ideology. On 1 March 2019, her lawyer confirmed that Begum had been moved to al-Roj refugee camp for her safety.

In 2021, Begum cooperated with investigative journalist Josh Baker and gave what she claims is her full account of what happened. It is investigated in the podcast The Shamima Begum Story as series 2 of I'm Not a Monster. She is also featured in a film of the same name.

Citizenship

In 2019, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced that he had made an order depriving Begum of British citizenship. Under international law, the UK government could not deprive her of British citizenship if such deprivation would leave her stateless. However, the UK government contended that Begum was a dual national, also holding citizenship of Bangladesh, and was not therefore made stateless by the decision. The Government of Bangladesh stated that Begum did not currently hold Bangladeshi citizenship and, without it, would not be allowed to enter Bangladesh. However, the British courts later accepted the argument that Begum was indeed a citizen of Bangladesh from birth (see below).

Under British law, Begum had the right to appeal against the Home Office's decision to revoke her UK citizenship. Javid's decision was criticised by Begum's immediate family members, but her brother-in-law Muhammad Rahman urged the public to support the government decision. He said: "The information they have is to the best of their ability and the British people should support it." Begum said that she might consider applying for Dutch citizenship.

In February 2019, her father Ahmed Ali said, "If she at least admitted she made a mistake then I would feel sorry for her and other people would feel sorry for her, but she does not accept her wrong." Begum reacted by stating that she regretted speaking to the media and said the UK is making an example out of her.

On 3 March 2019, Yago Riedijk, her husband, a member of IS, was interviewed by the BBC in a Kurdish detention centre in Syria. He said that he wished to return to the Netherlands with Begum. The Dutch government stated that they were not going to repatriate him.