Shamima Begum poses no threat and should be allowed home, says diplomat
(Picture: Sky Documentaries / Alba Sotorra)Former ISIS bride Shamima Begum poses no threat to the UK and should be allowed to return home, claimed a former US Ambassador to Croatia.
Begum was just 15-years-old when she travelled to Syria to join Islamic State in February 2015 with two other east London schoolgirls.
Peter Galbraith - who has met the Bethnal Green-raised woman - said Ms Begum has “absolutely rejected the Islamic State” and should be sent home from the al-Roj camp in northern Syria.
Mr Galbraith told The Daily Telegraph: “I’ve talked to Shamima – she is part of the group of women who have absolutely rejected the Islamic State – I know enough about her to feel quite confident that she’s not a dangerous person.”
The diplomat claimed he managed to grant the freedom of a Canadian woman in the same camp who went on to work with authorities to help identify American war criminals.
When the woman escaped, Mr Galbraith said she was able to reach out to the Canadian embassy from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
He added: “There are other women who have rejected the Islamic State, I don’t know if there are many who have been so helpful to law enforcement and, in her case, the identification of people including Americans who have committed major crimes.”
Begum was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
Then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her British citizenship on national security grounds.
She is challenging the removal of her British citizenship and she has asked a specialist tribunal to consider whether she was a victim of trafficking when she travelled to Syria.
Ms Begum’s legal team have argued there was “overwhelming evidence” showing she was a victim of trafficking when she left the UK.
