• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
​Shamima Begum Asks UK For 'Second Chance' And 'Open Mind' In New Documentary

Home> News

Updated 10:42 15 May 2024 GMT+1Published 15:19 5 Jun 2021 GMT+1

​Shamima Begum Asks UK For 'Second Chance' And 'Open Mind' In New Documentary

Speaking in a new feature-length Sky documentary The Return: Life After ISIS, Begum called on Brits to keep an ‘open mind’

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

Former ISIS bride Shamima Begum has asked the UK for a 'second chance', saying she was 'young and naïve' when she left the country for Syria as a teenager.

Begum, who is now 21, called on Brits to keep an 'open mind' when it comes to judging her and to 'put aside' what they've heard about her - claiming both the government and the media have mistold her story.

Speaking in a new feature-length Sky documentary, The Return: Life After ISIS, Begum said: "When I was a teenager, I was so ungrateful, but I was young and naïve and I felt like I knew everything.

Undated handout of Begum.
PA

"I felt like I was right and everyone else was wrong. I said I hated my mum and now I realise I love her and I feel most safe with her, and most loved with her.

"I would say to the people of the UK, give me a second chance because I was still young when I left.

"I just want them to put aside everything they've heard about me on the media and just have an open mind about why I left and who I am now as a person."

Begum, right, at Gatwick airport in February 2015.
PA

Begum - who had her British citizenship revoked in 2019 - also said she believes lies have been spread about her to make her 'look bad', including reports she had been in ISIS's morality police, a group who implement a strict interpretation of Islamic law.

She said: "It makes no sense how ISIS would let a 15-year-old with no Islamic knowledge work for hisbah when I don't speak the language.

"I didn't really have any credentials or anything, so I don't know why I'm being accused of this.

MetFilm/Alba Sotorra Productions

"I think my government just wants to make me look bad and they couldn't find anything so they just made it up."

Later in the film, she also said the same belief applied to journalists who spoke to her after she fled ISIS, admitting she felt forced into interviews and was also worried about saying 'certain things' in case it made her a target in her camp.

"When these journalists came to meet me, they had the intention of making me look bad, not the intention of getting the true story," Begum said.

The documentary, made by filmmaker Alba Sotorra Clua, features a number of women who fled their countries to devote their lives to ISIS, with unprecedented access to their prison camp Roj in Syria.

Sky

The women share their stories in their own words for the very first time, with a synopsis from Sky reading: "In this unique portrait, we hear from 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.

"With no country to go back to, we unpack the realities of more than 60,000 ISIS brides and children who are stranded in Syria as they find support in one another in Syria's detention camps."

LADbible has contacted the UK government for comment.

Watch The Return: Life After ISIS on Sky and NOW from 15 June.

Featured Image Credit: Sky

Topics: World News, UK News, TV and Film, News, Shamima Begum, Documentary

Jess Hardiman
Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

X

@Jess_Hardiman

Choose your content:

an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • an hour ago

    Archaeologists re-write history after discovering children's remains around ancient monument

    The remains of at least seven infants were found, alongside a well preserved newborn baby

    News
  • an hour ago

    WWE legend says wrestler attacked by Raja Jackson 'deserves some blame' for incident

    Mark Henry has claimed that Syko Stu needs to take some blame for being punched in the head repeatedly

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Son of climber stuck 24,000ft up mountain with broken leg claims she is ‘still alive’ as rescue is abandoned

    Mikhail Nagovitsin has urged officials to make another attempt to save his mother Natalia

    News
  • 2 hours ago

    Dad arrested over baby son’s ‘kidnapping’ joins police search for him

    Jake Haro has been pictured searching for his missing son with local police

    News