Shamima Begum's mother Asma says her 'world fell apart' when she ran away to join ISIS

24 November 2022, 11:22

Shamima Begun who is battling to have her British citizenship restored
Shamima Begun who is battling to have her British citizenship restored. Picture: Alamy

By Stephen Rigley

The mother of ISIS bride Shamima Begum has said her world "fell apart" when her daughter ran away to Syria.

Asma Begum said her daughter's bedroom in the family home has not been touched since she travelled to Syria in 2015.

Mrs Begum has never spoken publicly about the then 15-year old's decision to travel to Syria, where she married an IS recruit and had three children, all of whom later died.

In a statement read at an appeal hearing against the government's decision to strip Begum, now 23, of her British citizenship, she said:"My youngest daughter is even more present in my mind, the one I think about almost every hour of every day.

"When she left home in 2015, our worlds fell apart. Her drawers are still full, her perfume, pens and jewellery, her clothes are still there. Her pyjamas are folded neatly.

"Her school blazer is still hanging on the door in the front room, just as it was when she left."

She added: "On the last birthday she spent with us before she left, she did not want a cake but wanted a pizza with candles on it instead.

"She was so happy that day. On each of her birthdays since she left we order pizza and still celebrate her birthdays.

"It was always sad but we look forward to the birthday party we will have when she is back."

Shamima Begum
Shamima Begum. Picture: Alamy
Begum (centre) was one of three Bethnal Green schoolgirls who ran away to join ISIS
Begum (centre) was one of three Bethnal Green schoolgirls who ran away to join ISIS. Picture: Alamy

Read More: Shamima Begum ‘trafficked for sexual exploitation’ by Isis, say her lawyers

Read More: Ex-Irish soldier who fled to Syria jailed for 15 months for ISIS membership

Begum lived with her mother and three sisters after her father moved to Bangladesh with his second wife.

Mrs Begum said she had kept all her youngest daughter's belongings undisturbed for more than seven years.

She told the court: "Shamima and I shared a bedroom and I have not moved anything of hers from our room.

"Her drawers are still full, her perfume, pens and jewellery, her clothes are still there. Her pyjamas are folded neatly.

"The box with her school books I look at sometimes. Her school blazer is still hanging on the door in the front room, just as it was when she left."

Begum's lawyers claim she was groomed online by an IS 'propaganda machine' and trafficked into Syria.

Once under IS control she was married within days to an adult male recruit, sexually exploited and subjected to coercive control, her legal team said.

Former home secretary Sajid Javid's decision to revoke her British citizenship left her "effectively an exile for life", her lawyers argued, and she remains detained in a camp in Syria.

Lawyers for the Home Secretary argue Miss Begum is in Syria "as a result of her own choice to leave the UK" and that she could still pose a threat.

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney celebrate after winning the world cup

Northern Ireland stars burst into tears after historic victory at World Cup of Darts

The USS Nimitz has cancelled a planned port call and is heading west as the conflict in the Middle East intensifies

US aircraft carrier heads west as Israel and Iran exchange strikes for fourth day as fighting intensifies

Gemma Southall, 38, last seen in Norwich on Saturday.

Police launch urgent hunt for woman, 38, last seen in pink vest and flip flops missing since Saturday

.

Who is Blaise Metreweli - the real life M and first female head of MI6?

Exclusive
Economic Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds was flummoxed by questions about the Lower Thames crossing

Treasury minister unable to answer basic questions on £10bn Thames crossing in car crash LBC interview

Belinda Taylor, left, and Adam Harrison, right, died during a tandem jump on Friday.

Tributes pour in for 'selfless' mother-of-four and 'wonderful' skydiving instructor who died during tandem jump

An Air India flight takes off.

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight forced to turn back with 'technical issue'

NATO Scramble RAF Typhoons Four Times In Seven Days To Intercept Russian Aircraft

RAF fighter jets scrambled six days in a row as fifteen Russian military aircraft intercepted

J.J. Spaun holds the U.S. Open trophy

JJ Spaun hails 'fairytale' victory as Robert MacIntyre’s US Open dream crushed

The trilateral Aukus partnership, believed to be aimed at countering China, involves building a new fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines and co-operating in other areas of defence

Starmer has 'no doubt' Trump will back Aukus submarine deal despite ‘America First’ review

Falmouth youth fights for Transgender rights as Section 35 enacted repealing a Scottish Bill that would benefit the transgender community

Nearly 10,000 gender certificates granted as Gen Z applications soar

Israeli security personnel and first responders inspect an area hit by an Iranian missile strike on central Tel Aviv.

Israel-Iran LIVE: At least five dead and 287 injured in latest strikes on Tel Aviv as fighting enters its fourth day

Seven men who groomed two vulnerable teenage girls in Rochdale were found guilty of multiple offences last week

Starmer calls in 'Britain's FBI' to investigate grooming gangs after U-turn on national inquiry

Vance Boelter, 57, is suspected of fatally shooting the Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark

Man suspected of shooting Minnesota politicians in 'targeted assassination' arrested after two-day manhunt

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after a missile launched from Iran struck Haifa, in northern Israel, on Sunday, June 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Rami Shlush)

UK warns against all travel to Israel as missile strikes continue into third night

Sources told US media that Israel had briefed the Trump administration on a covert operation to target Iran’s top political figure

Donald Trump rejected Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Khamenei amid spiralling Middle East tensions