• Friday, March 29, 2024

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Daesh ‘matchmaker’ who recruited Shamima Begum begs to come home to UK

Shamima Begum fled to war-torn Syria at the age of 15 in 2015. (File photo)

By: Keerthi Mohan

A British jihadi bride dubbed Daesh (Islamic State) ‘matchmaker’ has begged to return to the UK to face justice in court, it was reported on Sunday (29).

Tooba Gondal has pleaded with the government to let her return to the UK with her “innocent” children. All three of her husbands have been killed while fighting for the terror group.

In an open letter to the British public, the former student from Walthamstow in east London said: “It is not just for my government to keep us here for nearly a year now.

“I want to face justice in a British court. I wish to redeem myself. I would like Britain to accept my apology and give me another chance.”

“I have never harmed you, nor do I intend to,” the 25-year-old added in the letter published in The Sunday Times.

Gondal has spent nearly a year detained in a camp in norther Syria and according to her, she tried to escape the terror group several times since travelling to the country in 2015.

But she was reportedly warned that her daughter Asiya, 18 months, and son Ibrahim, 3 years, would be killed if they were caught.

“I was a vulnerable target to Isis recruiters. I was manipulated and persuaded that it was an obligation as a Muslim to travel to Syria.

“I never became a member of Isis. I was forced at many stages to marry and I can’t say how many times I tried to escape. I wanted to leave from the start, but it became impossible.

“These criminals threatened to kill my babies.”

Gondal has offered to help prevent the radicalisation of Muslims in the UK if she is allowed to return to the country.

But on Sunday, home secretary Priti Patel insisted that Daesh supporters such as Shamima Begum will never be allowed to return to the UK.

“Our job is to keep our country safe. We don’t need people who have done harm and left our country to be part of a death cult and to perpetrate that ideology,” Patel said, referring to Begum.

“We cannot have people who would do us harm allowed to enter our country – and that includes this woman.”

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