Shamima Begum has appealed again to return to the UK, saying she “wants to be as British as possible”. And the Jihadi bride, who faces trial in Syria, says she wants to be "used as an example" to stop other Brits turning to extremism.
Begum, who left the UK for Syria in 2015 aged 15, denies helping to make suicide vests for ISIS terrorists. The 22-year-old has also been accused of trying to manipulate the press and UK.
She has been imprisoned in Syria since 2019 and remains there at the al-Roj prison camp. Trials of alleged male Syrian and Iraqi ISIS fighters have begun with women set to be tried later this summer.
Inews has reported how Begum is once again trying to convince authorities to let her return to Britain. She said she could be "used as an example".
"If it stops children making the same mistake that I made of course use me as an example," she said. “Tell the kids ‘don’t be like her, don’t become like her’."
Begum claims she was trafficked by ISIS fighters to be a bride, alongside other British girls. Last year, she failed in her bid at the Supreme Court to come back to Britain to fight her case in person.
Despite her hopes, Ms Begum believes she will spend the rest of her life in Syria. In the interview, shared with i by the film-makers Andrew Drury and Richard Ashmore, the Bethnal Green runaway said: "The problem is at the age of being a teenager you’re very arrogant and you don’t listen to people so sometimes you really do have to learn the hard way."
