‘Consequences’ for ISIS Bride If She Returns to the UK

Jane Werrell
By Jane Werrell
February 19, 2019UK
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‘Consequences’ for ISIS Bride If She Returns to the UK
A photo of Shamima Begum, held by her sister, Renu. (Laura Lean/AP Wire)

President Donald Trump said on Feb. 17, that European nations should take back the 800 extremists from the ISIS terrorist group who were captured in Syria, and put them on trial. Thousands of European nationals have left their homes to join ISIS.

President Trump’s comments on twitter come amid controversy over Shemima Begum, who left London to join ISIS, aged just 15.

Begum was one of many young “jihadi brides” that left their homes in Europe to marry the terrorists of the so-called caliphate.

Now, four years later, she wants to return to the UK.

Shamima Begum in a surveillance photo
Shamima Begum in an undated surveillance photo provided by police. (Metropolitan Police)

‘There Must Be Consequences’

The British Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, said he “will not hesitate” to block the return of ISIS supporters.

“We cannot ignore the threat posed by those who chose to leave Britain to engage with the conflict in Syria or Iraq,” he said on Monday. “Whatever role they took in the so-called caliphate, they all supported a terrorist organization. In doing so have shown that they hate our country and the values that we stand for.”

He added that under international law, he cannot strip someone of their citizenship if it would leave them stateless.

“The House would have also seen the comments about Shemima Begum that she’s made in the media and will have to draw it’s own conclusions. Quite simply if you back terror, there must be consequences,” he said.

‘OK With It’

Speaking from a Syrian refugee camp, Begum said people should feel sympathy for her.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into when I left and I just was hoping that for the sake of me and my child, they could let me come back,” she said in an interview with Sky News.

NTD Photo
Interior Secretary Sajid Javid arrives for a cabinet meeting on Downing Street in London, England, on Nov. 20, 2018. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Asked about beheadings and executions, she seemed unfazed. “From what I heard, Islamically that is all allowed. So I was okay with it,” she said.

Begum said she was “just a housewife” and that British authorities had no evidence of her “doing anything dangerous.”

In an earlier interview with the Sunday Times, Begum was unrepentant about running away from home to join up with ISIS, saying “I don’t regret coming here.”

An estimated 850 people are thought to have traveled from Britain to join the ISIS terrorist group in Syria, with about 400 returning. The 400 returnees include men, women, and children.

Trio of Runaway ISIS Brides

In a move that made headlines in Britain, the trio of teenaged London schoolgirls left stable family backgrounds in February 2015 to join what has been described as a murderous jihadi cult.

Begum and Abase were both 15, while Sultana was 16, when they flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey.

families of runaway jihadi schoolgirls
The families of Shamima Begum and Amira Abase pose for a portrait after being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard, London, UK, on Feb. 22, 2015. (Laura Lean/PA Wire/Getty Images)

The girls later crossed the border into Syria.

While Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike in 2016, Begum said she did not know what happened to her other friend.

The Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.

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