THE BBC has defended a documentary about Londoner Shamima Begum, who left Britain to join Daesh (Islamic State group), saying the series was a piece of important investigative journalism.
A 10-part series, entitled The Shamima Begum Story, features interviews with Begum, who explains her decision to join Daesh, as well as discussions about radicalisation in the UK and national security issues.
However, the corporation received 387 complaints from viewers who said it was unsuitable to feature a podcast and television documentary about Begum.
The BBC emphasised that the documentary featured testimony from those impacted by Deash, and that the filmmaker, Josh Baker, asked “key editorial questions about how she (Begum) got to Islamic State Group territory in Syria, what she did when she got there, and the consequences of her actions”.
The BBC has encouraged people to listen to and watch the documentary in full and said the series was an important contribution to public discourse on national security, radicalisation, and the consequences of joining extremist groups.
Begum, who lost her appeal against the UK government's decision to revoke her citizenship, has been living in a camp in northern Syria since 2019. The decision to revoke her citizenship was upheld in a UK court earlier this week, meaning that she will remain in the camp indefinitely.
In 2015, Begum, who is now 23 years old and originally from east London, travelled to Syria to join Daesh along with two of her school friends. It later emerged that she had married a Daesh fighter and had three children, all of whom died.
After several years, Begum reappeared in 2019 in a refugee camp.
Michael Gove
Jeremy Hunt
