Shamima Begum 'not sad' over her children's deaths and fears Ukraine war stops her bid to return to Britain
5 September 2022, 14:56 | Updated: 5 September 2022, 15:00
ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who fled to Syria as a teenager, has told a journalist that the deaths of her three children is something that no longer makes her feel sad.
Ms Begum made the remarks in a WhatApp message to journalist Andrew Drury, who interviewed her four times over the course of a year, after he told her that he had felt emotional seeing the photos of her deceased children:
“She replied: “If you [sic] makes you feel any better I’ve moved on from that part of my life. It doesn’t make me feel sad any more.”
Begum also spoke of how was "worried" that the war in Ukraine would take media attention away from her case and prolong her hoped future return to the UK:
“Everytime something like the Ukraine crisis happens in the world we feel like all our cases are pushed to the side and that we’ll never get out of here."
In 2019 the Home Secretary revoked Shamima Begum's British citizenship, under a law which allows someone's citizenship to be removed doing so is deemed to be "conducive to the public good" and provided the individual is not rendered stateless by doing so.
The Supreme Court upheld the ruling, which Begum wants to challenge in the courts, however she cannot return to Britain to fight the case due to concerns over the safety of the public.
Writing in the Sun, Andrew Drury, spoke of how his perception of Begum changed over the course of their time together: "At the time I felt sorry for her and genuinely thought she was a victim. I am a father of daughters and I felt protective of her.
"But after extensive face-to-face meetings and a slew of bizarre text messages, I am convinced she is a bitter, twisted character with deep psychological problems."
"It has become apparent to me that she is sharp and clever, and often uses that to her advantage.
"I asked her who the ringleader was [that encouraged the three girls to travel to Syria] and she blamed Sharmeena [Begum], but I think out of her own group of friends, it was Shamima."
Shamima Begum fled to Syria in 2015 and lived under Isis rule for more than three years before she was found.
Begum still wishes to return to the UK and has promised to be a "voice against radicalisation" if she is allowed to return to Britain.
