Friday, December 6

Shamima given birth to baby boy


 

 

British ISIS bride Shamima Begum has given birth to a baby boy in Syria, according to her family.

IS bride Shamima Begum

The 19-year-old, from Bethnal Green, revealed this week that she wants to return to the UK.

In a statement family lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said: “We the family of Shamima Begum have been informed that Shamima has given birth to her child, we understand both she and the baby are in good health.

“As yet we have not had direct contact with Shamima, we are hoping to establish communications with her soon so that we can verify the above.”

Her family have begged for her to be shown mercy and to be allowed to return to east London.

The teenager is thought to have previously had two children with her ISIS-fighter husband who both died in infancy.

Yago Riedjik the husband of Shamima Begum

She fled her home in Bethnal Green, east London in 2015 to join ISIS in Syria, where she wed Yago Riedijk, who she said was the ‘best part’ of living under ISIS.

She and her husband are in separate camps in Syria as ISIS continues to lose ground.

The 19-year-old is in Al-Hol – also known as al-Hawl – which has been flooded with more than 25,000 displaced people in recent weeks.

Ms Begum, who told The Times she did not regret travelling to IS-controlled Syria, said she understood she could face a police investigation if she manages to return.

Her family have said that if she is jailed for supporting of a terrorist group they want to step in to raise the child, rather than having the taxpayer pick up the cost.

Ms Begum’s wish to return to the UK has sparked fierce debate over her legal status. Should she return she faces probable prosecution for terrorist offences.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has warned he “will not hesitate” to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS, but Justice Secretary David Gauke told Sky News “we can’t make people stateless”.

Mr Javid wrote in The Sunday Times that many supporters of IS have returned to their home countries, adding: “The difficult challenge we now face is what we should do about those who are still seeking to return.

“As home secretary, my priority is to ensure the safety and security of this country – and I will not let anything jeopardise that.”

Shamima was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK to travel to Syria in February 2015.

Shamima Begum said she had recently heard second-hand that the other two girls may still be alive.

Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green but not related to Shamima, had travelled to Syria two months earlier in 2015.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an air strike in 2016.