Shamima Begum: ‘I want to live a quiet life with my baby’ away from the cameras
Shamima Begum’s story that will only grow. Today the Times, which spotted Begum living in the al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria, tells us that the teenager who left London to join Islamic State in Syria wants to come home and raise her baby.
Now 19 and nine-months pregnant, Begum is the subject of heated debate. One Times writer says Begum is nothing but a “credulous fool”. She “has suffered the unspeakable tragedy of seeing two infants die for want of effective hospital care”. She “fled a brutal battlefield”. And “yet it is all but impossible to feel sorry for her”. It’s the bits about viewing severed heads with a dispassionate eye and having no remorse for signing up to ISIS that grinds. “That’s why I really want to get back to Britain,” she says pointing to her unborn child, “because I know it will be taken care of, health-wise at least.” Entitled, moi?
“What do you think will happen to my child?” she asks. It’s a good question. “Because I don’t want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.” The baby dad, the Dutch jihadist Yago Riedijk, whom she loves “very much” is busy helping those fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces who nabbed him with their enquiries.
“I knew that coming back to the UK wouldn’t be a quiet thing. It’s uncomfortable,” she adds. “If I ever do go back, it’ll be a long time before the cameras stop and all the questions stop.” She sees media intrusion affecting her stated desire to “come home and live quietly with my child”. Unless she means the cameras in a secure unit, which she most likely does not.
Posted: 16th, February 2019 | In: Key Posts, News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
