What did Shamima Begum do in Iraq? Is Shamima Begum a refugee?

Shamima Begum is a British-born woman who arrived in Syria at the age of 15 to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Begum was a student at Bethnal Green Academy in London when she and two classmates, known as the Bethnal Green trio, traveled to Syria in February 2015. Begum married a fellow ISIL member 10 days after arriving and had three children, all of whom died young. Begum earned a reputation as an enforcer among ISIL members and was in charge of recruiting new members.

On February 13, 2019, The Times’ war correspondent Anthony Loyd discovered Begum at the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria. Begum wished to return to the United Kingdom to raise her child, but she did not regret her decision to join ISIL. Begum said she was unfazed by seeing the head of a beheaded man because he was an “enemy of Islam,” but she believes ISIL did not deserve to win because of their corruption and oppression. When asked if she would be extracted from Syria, Security Minister Ben Wallace stated, “I’m not putting British people’s lives at risk to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.” Begum gave birth to a son three days after Loyd discovered her.

What did Shamima Begum do in Iraq?

“The evidence is overwhelming that she was recruited, transported, transferred, harbored, and received in Syria by ISIS for the purpose of sexual exploitation and marriage to an adult male – and she was married to an adult, significantly older than herself, within days of her arrival, falling pregnant.

Is Shamima Begum a refugee?

Shamima Begum’s appeal to return to the United Kingdom has been denied. Begum is currently living in a refugee camp in northern Syria, and the decision effectively deprives her of her citizenship.