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 later 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 also providing information to Canadian intelligence. Ten days after her arrival, Begum married a 23-year-old IS fighter; 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, 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 UK legal system, but has, through her lawyers, intimated an intention to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

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 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.

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.

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 has been proven, and much of what has been reported is denied by Shamima Begum. Later, investigative journalist Josh Baker posed as an ISIS member and was able to speak with Sharmeena Begum, the person responsible for convincing Shamima to join the group. Sharmeena 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.

Attempted 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. Three days after Loyd found her, Begum gave birth to a boy.

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. 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.

It was reported in August 2022 that Begum's lawyer claims the British authorities knew that Begum was helped to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State by a Canadian intelligence agentas claimed by Richard Kerbaj in his book The Secret History of the Five Eyesa factor that had not been brought to the attention of the Supreme Court.

On 22 February 2023, it was reported that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) had ruled that the revocation of her citizenship was lawful.

Death of third child

On 8 March 2019, Syrian Democratic Forces announced that Begum's son Jarrah, whose imminent birth had apparently motivated her desire to return to the UK, had died in hospital the previous day. The cause of death was certified as pneumonia.

Legal case against the British Government

In 2019, Begum was stripped of her UK citizenship by Sajid Javid while he was Home Secretary for the Conservative Party government.

Making citizens stateless is unlawful under the British Nationality Act 1981, section 40, and is also contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, of which the UK is a signatory. Begum was born a British citizen under United Kingdom law, as her father (despite having already left the UK) had indefinite leave to remain and so had the "settled in the United Kingdom" status that the British Nationality Act 1981 describes as being a satisfactory prerequisite to allow Begum to be born a British citizen. However, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission found that as a matter of the Bangladeshi nationality law, Begum also holds Bangladeshi citizenship through her parents, under section 5 of the Citizenship Act, 1951.

In April 2019, it was reported that Begum had been granted legal aid to fight the revocation of her British citizenship. Hunt described the Legal Aid Agency's decision as "very uncomfortable", but said that the UK is "a country that believes that people with limited means should have access to the resources of the state if they want to challenge the decisions the state has made about them".

In May 2019, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abdul Momen repeated his position on Begum and added that if she entered Bangladesh, she would face the death penalty due to the nation's "zero tolerance policy" towards terrorism.

In August 2019, the Metropolitan Police requested media organisations that had interviewed Begum—the BBC, ITN, Sky News, and The Times—to surrender any unpublished material they may hold about Begum. They sought disclosure under the Terrorism Act 2000 in order to prepare a potential prosecution against Begum.

Her lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, travelled to Kurdish-controlled Syria to meet Begum but was turned away. The Home Secretary appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; in February 2021, the court ruled in Begum v Home Secretary in favour of the Home Secretary on all grounds.

On 22 February 2023, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission rejected her appeal against the revocation of her British citizenship, which effectively prohibits her from entering the United Kingdom. Begum's lawyers said they would appeal the decision.

On 7 August 2024, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled she will not be allowed to challenge the removal of her British citizenship as the grounds of her case "do not raise an arguable point of law". The ruling was unanimous.

Media coverage

Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh Moaeveni Shamima Begum and her friends were among the women discussed in Azadeh Moaveni's book about women from the UK, Germany, Tunisia and Syria who married IS-supporting men.

I'm Not a Monster BBC podcast series Begum was the central figure in the second series of the BBC's I'm Not a Monster podcast, called "I'm Not a Monster: The Shamima Begum Story", by BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live. And a follow up second series in 2024 called "The Shamima Begum Story, Series 2: The Court Decides". The first series was about Samantha Sally, who is from the United States and also traveled to Islamic State territory with her husband and children.

Shamima Begum: The Blame Game ITV News podcast series The 2022 series attempts to determine who was responsible for Begum’s successful trip to Syria. The Financial Times said, “What is clear from the series is that apportioning sole blame is impossible since Begum’s actions were the result of a confluence of events and failures.”

Brides film Begum's journey to Syria inspired the 2025 film Brides, with the fictionalised story including the bus station in Turkey where Begum and her friends waited.