IS teenager Shamima ‘gives birth’

Send
Bangla Tribune Desk
Published : 20:29, Feb 17, 2019 | Updated : 20:47, Feb 17, 2019

Shamima Begum - the British Bangladeshi teenager who left the UK to join the Islamic State in Syria. RUTERS/File PhotoShamima Begum - the British Bangladeshi teenager who left the UK to join the Islamic State in Syria - has given birth, her family says they have been told.
Their lawyer released a statement saying Begum and her child - a boy - are believed to be in "good health", reports the BBC which said it is yet to confirm from any other source.
Begum was found last week in the camp by a reporter from the Times, which published an interview in which she said she was heavily pregnant and wanted to come home to the UK for her baby.
She also said she had two children who had died in Syria.
The 19-year-old told Sky News from a Syrian refugee camp "a lot of people should have sympathy towards me".
"I didn't know what I was getting into when I left," she said.
She said she made a mistake "in a way" by going to Syria, but added: "I don't regret it because it's made me stronger."
In the statement, the family's lawyer, Mohammed Tasnime Akunjee, said they had "been informed" that she had given birth to her child.
"As yet we not had direct contact with Shamima, we are hoping to establish communications with her soon so that we can verify the above," the statement said.

 

Akunjee told Radio 4's The World This Weekend that the family was informed about the birth in a phone call from a translator at the camp and that they had mixed feelings about it.
"They are obviously very happy and joyous that Shamima has successfully given birth and that she's healthy," he said.
But he added that following the death of Ms Begum's other two children, the family was "very concerned" about the baby's health and wanted both her and the child to return to the UK.
The lawyer insisted that the baby was "no threat" and that legally Ms Begum was allowed to return as a British citizen.
Cabinet minister Jeremy Wright told BBC's Andrew Marr programme that the baby's nationality was "not straightforward".
The culture secretary, who was previously attorney general, said the first priority was establishing the health of her and her baby.
"But in the end she will have to answer for her actions. So I think it is right that if she's able to come back to the UK that she does so, but if she does so she will do it on the understanding that we can hold her to account for her behaviour thus far," he added.
Debate continues over whether Ms Begum should be stopped from returning to the UK, with Home Secretary Sajid Javid writing in the Sunday Times that he would "not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS.
He added: "The difficult challenge we now face is what we should do about those who are still seeking to return."
Schoolfriends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase, left their homes last month and flew to Istanbul, from where they are believed to have joined Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria.Begum and two other schoolgirls, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green, east London, left for Syria to join IS in February 2015.
She told The Times that Kadiza had died after a house was bombed, but the fate of her other friend is still unknown.
In the interview, Begum said she had escaped from Baghuz, Islamic State's last stronghold in eastern Syria, two weeks ago, but her husband - a Dutch convert to Islam - surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters as they left.
Also Read

British Bangladeshi ISIS jihadi bride makes plea to return to UK

/zmi/
Top