SHE did not want to be the “friend that was left behind”, as Shamima Begum in a new documentary reveals her intention of fleeing to Syria to join Daesh (Islamic State group) along with two other Bethnal Green schoolgirls.
She fled the UK at the age of 15 in 2015 and says in the documentary that she was "young and naive" and by joining Daesh she wanted to help the people of war-torn Syria.
Currently Begum continues to live at the al-Roj camp in northern Syria with her British citizenship stripped by the government, leading to an ongoing legal battle.
The documentary, The Return: Life After ISIS - tells the story of Begum and other women detained in the camp.
Begum said she and her friends were recruited by Daesh online, who preyed on their guilt at seeing muslims suffering in Syria.
“It was the holidays when I decided to leave with my friends,” she was quoted as saying in the documentary.
“I knew it was a big decision, but I just felt compelled to do it quickly. I didn't want to be the friend that was left behind.”
“My mum didn’t see me walking outside of the door. I didn’t hug her, I really regret not hugging her,” she added.
The schoolgirls with whom she fled to Syria - Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana were both killed in the city of Baghuz.
“Now I feel like I have no friends anymore, they were everything I had,” she says.
Begum lost two of her children while trying to flee the last-held territory of Daesh. Her third child died shortly after she gave birth to him in the Syrian camp.
“I just really wanted to kill myself, I felt I couldn’t get up anymore, I couldn’t even get up to run when there were bombings. The only thing keeping me alive was my baby that I was pregnant with.”
Begum, 21, said the government was wrong to remove her citizenship on the basis of radical Islam, and fearing her safety in the camp she restrained herself from condemning Daesh in her interviews.
"I would say to the people in 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 in the media and just have an open mind about why I left and who I am now as a person."
