New Documentary About Shamima Begum Airs Tonight
A new documentary about Shamima Begum and other former ISIS brides airs tonight on Sky, revealing why they decided to leave the western world for the Islamic State - and what has happened to them since.
The Return: Life After ISIS is a feature-length documentary from filmmaker Alba Sotorra Clua, who managed to gain unprecedented access to a number of women at prison camp Roj in Syria.
During the film, we hear from a number of women who fled their countries to devote their lives to Isis - including Begum, who as just 15 when she left the UK.
A synopsis from Sky says: "The powerful documentary provides exclusive access to a group of Western women who devoted their young lives to ISIS, including British recruit Shamima Begum, who fled the country with two school friends when she was just 15, and Hoda Muthana from USA who allegedly incited her followers on Twitter to support the Islamic State.
"Splitting opinions in the media and the public, these women now tell their stories for the first time. The film sensitively explores the realities of the more than 60,000 ISIS brides and children stranded in Syria with no country to go back to."
The women share their stories in their own words for the very first time, including in-depth insight to what life in ISIS was like.
Begum - who had her British citizenship revoked in 2019 - explains how women were 'told how to think, how to dress, how to act' by the ISIS police, who would 'yell at people' as they went around.
Hoda Muthana, an American woman who left the US to join ISIS in 2014, recalls in the film: "Once I had my Nikes [trainers] on, and they had a pink strip on the Nike [logo] - just a little tiny pink strip. And I remember being stopped and yelled at for that pink strip.
"They would scream in the intercom of their car, 'You can't wear that shoe because it's too attractive.'
"I remember wearing my glasses, showing my eyes. 'Put your niqab back down, we can see your eyes.'
"If you want to take your glove off, just to take your money out of your bag, someone screams at you from far away, 'Put your gloves back on.'
"I was expecting a happy place with Muslims helping in hospitals, helping in schools, helping a community out and just being good, decent Muslims to each other.
"I don't know, it was just a big mess. It was hell on Earth, really."
The Return: Life After ISIS airs on Sky Documentaries tonight at 9pm. It will also be available to watch via NOW.
Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Shamima Begum, Documentary
Jess Hardiman