Eyewitness: Shamima Begum gave speeches in praise of suicide bombers

2022-12-11

Eyewitness: Jihadi bride Shamima Begum gave rabble-rousing speeches which ‘incited ISIS suicide bombers’ after joining Islamic State

Comes as London-born Begum, 23, renews her legal bid to return to the UK
She claims she was trafficked to the Middle East when she was a schoolgirl
Home Office and security services oppose her return as she is a security risk
Refugee the terror group took prisoner said they saw Begum giving speeches

Jihadi bride Shamima Begum gave rabble-rousing speeches in praise of suicide bombers after joining Islamic State in Syria, according to a refugee the terror group took prisoner.

The account from the Yazidi sex slave comes as London-born Begum renews her legal bid to return to the UK, claiming she was trafficked to the Middle East as a schoolgirl.

But the refugee’s testimony suggests Begum was active in the terror group.

The Home Office and security services continue to oppose her return on the basis that she is a security risk.

Jihadi bride Shamima Begum, pictured, gave rabble-rousing speeches in praise of suicide bombers after joining Islamic State in Syria, according to a refugee the terror group took prisoner

Begum, now 23, was seen by the Yazidi victim and a friend giving talks on Islam inside the Al-Nur Mosque in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The woman, who lives under protection outside Syria and Iraq and refused to be named, said that in 2017 Begum gave talks encouraging others to take part in suicide attacks.

Begum addressed an English-speaking audience while others spoke to German, French and Arabic groups.

In an interview with independent film-maker Alan Duncan, the Yazidi victim – who was forced to become a sex slave for an Arab IS fighter – said she was made to attend the mosque.

Begum, now 23, was seen by the Yazidi victim and a friend giving talks on Islam inside the Al-Nur Mosque in the Syrian city of Raqqa

The witness said she saw Begum talking to an English-speaking group, preaching the same message, adding: ‘She was giving information about who wants to go for fighting and who wants do suicide attacks. She had a paper to record names.’

The woman said she and a friend who was also a Yazidi slave witnessed Begum deliver her ‘lessons’ over 40 days at the mosque. Her friend now also lives outside Syria and Iraq.

The Yazidi woman added although Begum said suicide attacks were voluntary, she urged her audience to sign up, adding: ‘She was encouraging us to record our names by saying you will not die after the suicide, you will be in paradise.’

The victim spoke to Duncan because he had made documentaries highlighting the plight of Yazidi women and girls, a minority group in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran. Thousands were kidnapped as sex slaves by IS.

In 2015, Begum, then 15, and her school friends Kadiza Sultana, 15, and Amira Abase, 16, fled their East London homes to join IS.

Sultana and Abase were reportedly killed in Syria, but Begum was found in a refugee camp in 2019. The UK withdrew her citizenship and she was banned from entering Britain. Her latest appeal to overturn the ban is being considered by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.

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