The British girl who joined the IE and now wants to give birth again in her country

LONDON – Shamima Begum is one of three teenagers who fled their school in Bethnal Green outside of their school in February 2015

London

, travel to

Syria

and join

Islamic State

(EI), at a time when recruitment of the jihadist group had led several teenagers to join the caliphate.

The three girls, who were then between 15 and 16 years old, went to meet another student from the same school who joined the group a few months earlier. Upon their arrival in Raqqa, the capital of the IS caliphate, the three friends were married to fighters of the extremist group.

Third pregnancy

Begum, aged 19 and nine months now, states that she does not regret having fled to Syria but wants to "go home" for the birth of her baby.

Begum was found in a camp of 39,000 refugees in northern Syria by the British newspaper The Times, where she was interviewed. The young woman had fled two weeks before Baghuz, in the east of the country, the last redoubt of the caliphate, after her husband surrendered to members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), without his fate being known.

"In the end, I could not stand it anymore," said Begum, who fears for his son's health after the death of his first two children.

In recent months, during the collapse of the caliphate, he had lost his two young children. One of them, an eight-month-old boy, died of malnutrition, while the one-and-a-half year old daughter died a month later. In Hajin Hospital, the city where he was at that time and where the two are buried, "there was no medication and no adequate staff".

"Now all I want to do is go home to Britain," said the 19-year-old, who fears that her third child will fall ill in the camp she is currently in.

Between bombs and beheaded: the life of Begum in IE

Upon arriving in Syria, Shamima Begum stayed in a house with other new wives and asked to marry an "Anglophone fighter between the ages of 20 and 25". Ten days later, he married a 27-year-old Dutch man converted into a

L & # 39; Islam

and he was with him all this time.

When asked about her life in the Caliphate, Begum said that she "led a normal life, just like that presented in the propaganda videos."

"From time to time, there are bombs and that kind of thing, but other than that …", said the young British woman.

In addition, Begum stated that he did not regret joining the jihadist group and that he was not alarmed the first time that he had seen the beheading of ## 147 ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # 39, a victim of extremists. "When I saw a severed head for the first time, it did not disconcert me at all, it was a fighter captured on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam." , I just thought of what I would have done to a Muslim woman if I could, "executions

"I do not regret having come," said Begum, reiterating his desire to return.

Your companions

The flight of Shamima Begum and the other two students shocked Britain. The teenager of the time lived in the London Borough of Bethnal Green when she left her country with Amira Abase, also 15 years old, and Kadiza Sultana, then 16 years old.

In February 2015, the three girls traveled from London Gatwick Airport to Turkey after telling their parents that they were going for a walk. British girls stole family jewels to pay for the tickets.

Immediately, the parents of the three young people – who had not completed their studies – tried by all means to contact them and prevent them from going to Syria or Iraq to support the insurance. employment.

"You are strong, smart, beautiful and we are waiting for you to make the right decision," the family said in a statement issued by the police. "Please, come home."

A few days after his escape, Scotland Yard acknowledged that the three children had been interviewed before, after another fellow from the same school made the same trip to join the Islamic State.

Once in Turkey, the teenagers crossed the Syrian border and, after arriving in the city of Raqqa, they stayed together in the house where they hoped to marry radical Islamists.

In the interview, Begum confirmed that Sultana had died in 2016 in Syrian territory during an air strike. while the other two saw them two weeks ago, before escaping to the refugee camp in the north of the country.

"They are strong, I respect their decision, they would be ashamed of me if they survived the battle and knew that I would leave," said the young woman about her companions.

The future of Begum

The British Secretary of State for Security, Ben Wallace, said that he was "concerned" that Begum does not express remorse and warned that he should face the consequences.

"Any British citizen who has left the country and supported terrorist actions in Syria must be prepared when he returns to the country to be interrogated, investigated and possibly formally charged in court," Wallace said.

The final decision as to whether or not to open an investigation into Begum for the possible commission of crimes, in case he would return to the UK, would go to Interior Minister Sajid Javid, after consulting MI5 and MI6 intelligence services. In 2015, Bernard Hogan-Howe, director of Scotland Yard, said that neither the girl nor her other friends escaped could be criminally prosecuted if it was clearly established that they had committed crimes.

Another possibility is that Begum can have access to a government program designed to de-radicalize repentants and help them integrate into society.

In the end, the young woman – who claims to not be "the same stupid student who ran away four years ago" – knows that a hostile welcome awaits her.

"I know what everyone at home thinks of me, since I have read everything that has been written about me on the Internet," he said. "But I just want to go home to have my son, I'll do everything I can to go home and live in silence with my son."

According to government figures, about 900 Britons have fled the country to join the Islamic State and it is estimated that 20% of them have died, while 50% of the survivors are back.

AP Agency