Thousands have signed an e-petition calling on the UK government to prevent the return of Shamima Begum, a British Bangladeshi who fled her London home as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group as a jihadi bride to a male recruit.
Begum, now a 19-year-old new mother to a baby boy born over the weekend, had been tracked down to a refugee camp in Syria last week, when made a plea to allow her and her child safe re-entry to the UK. In a series of interviews, she has repeated her wish to return, saying: “I actually do support some British values and I am willing to go back to the UK and settle back again and rehabilitate and that stuff.”
However, the e-petition titled “Stop Shamima Begum coming back to the UK”, which has attracted nearly 38,000 signatures within days, highlights any lack of regret or remorse for her actions.
“Shamima Begum has clearly stated she has no regrets, and only wants to return to the UK, as she is pregnant and wants free health care and benefits,” reads the petition on Change.Org.
“Shamima Begum was happy to leave Britain to join ISIS, despite their record of beheading her compatriots, for murdering gay people, and horrendous crimes against humanity,” it notes.
The strong public reaction has also been playing out on social media, where two of England's leading former cricketers clashed over allowing Begum re-entry. While former captain Micheal Vaughan favoured blocking her return, saying "sometimes laws have to be broken", fellow ex-batsman Mark Ramprakash warned that it would be a "dangerous road to go down" if international laws were broken.
Their Twitter clash came as UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid told House of Commons on Monday that he would not "hesitate to prevent" the return of Britons who travelled to Syria to join ISIS. While the UK cannot leave people stateless, under international law, the minister said any such Britons would be "questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted".
"If you back terror, there must be consequences," he said.
Meanwhile, Begum’s family – originally from Bangladesh and now based in east London – have urged the government to allow them to take custody of her new-born baby.
“Her parents would want custody of the baby. They would want to look after their grandchild,” said Shamima Begum's brother-in-law Muhammad Rahman.
“Both her parents are alive and are capable of looking after the baby. Hopefully then Shamima can be reunited with her baby after she has been freed from any spell in custody,” he said.
A lawyer representing Begum's family has said she is "damaged" and needs mental health support. Tasnime Akunjee said her family had tried to get Begum away from the ISIS group "from day one" and now want to ensure her baby is saved from ISIS ideology.
“I don’t believe he [Javid] has the legal grounds or tools to stop her coming back,” Akunjee said.
Shamima Begum had fled the UK in February 2015 with two other schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy in east London – Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. Kadiza is thought to have died when a house was blown up in Syria, and the fate of Amira remains unknown.
