Shamima Begum ‘overjoyed’ to see family but ‘nervous’ about return UK to fight for British citizenship
JIHADI wife Shamima Begum is thrilled about being reunited with her family but is anxious about returning to the UK, a camp guard has revealed.
The revelation comes as London Mayor Sadiq Khan implied he does not agree with the Home Office’s decision to challenge the Court of Appeal ruling allowing her to return and push for reinstatement of her citizenship.
At the north eastern Syrian Al-Roj refugee camp a security guard said that despite the recent victory in her court case, “everything” was still “very uncertain” for the ISIS bride.
The guard told MailOnline: “Shamima has been very happy since she got the news that she will be going home to Britain.
“She is in a good mood because she will see her family and her country again.
“She is also very nervous about what will happen to her and how people will look at her there.”
And a camp administrator said that Shamima does “nothing all day”.
She passes time by “sitting in her tent, eating and sleeping”.
They added that she is just “waiting to go home”.
How Shamima will physically return home is another question.
Although the Court of Appeal has green-lighted her return to the UK in a controversial decision – which means the government must find a way for her to appear in court here – officials have repeatedly said there is no intention to help free her from Syria.
“Ms Begum is not afraid of facing British justice. She welcomes it,″ her lawyer, Daniel Furner, said in a statement after the ruling.
“But the stripping of her citizenship without a chance to clear her name is not justice – it is the opposite.”
The camp administrator told the MailOnline that Shamima may head for Erbil in the north of neighbouring Iraq, and fly back to Britain.
A Home Office spokesperson said of yesterday’s approval for her return: “This is a very disappointing decision by the Court.
“We will now apply for permission to appeal this judgement, and to stay its effects pending any onward appeal.
“The Government’s top priority remains maintaining our national security and keeping the public safe.”
‘FACE THE MUSIC’
However, Sadiq Khan told the Press Association on Friday: “I think people who commit criminal offences must face the music.
“While we’ve got courts in this country and judges who are some of the fairest in the world, I think if a British citizen commits an offence here or overseas they should face justice in the criminal courts.
“And if she (Begum) has committed a criminal offence I’m sure the jury will find her guilty, and justice will be served.
“What I’m not in favour of is us subcontracting justice to another country.”
On Thursday, senior judges said Shamima – one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join ISIS – should be allowed to return to the UK.
She fled Britain to join the terror group in 2015, at the age of 15.
Her British citizenship was stripped last year by the Home Office, despite appeals by her family for an “act of mercy”, allowing her to return and be rehabilitated.
Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid said at the time: “We have made it very clear since 2011 that no British citizen should travel to Syria.
“Those who have stayed until the bitter end include some of the most devoted supporters of Daesh.
“One of the ways we can deal with the threat that they pose to the UK is to remove British citizenship from those holding another nationality.”
Shamima has this month been pictured in her refugee camp after being told she can return to the UK – but “will face being arrested”.
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Now aged 20, she was filmed in Syria having ditched her Islamic dress and instead donning western clothes including jeans, a shirt and a blue hat.
Upon her return to Britain Begum is likely to be arrested and questioned, before facing trial on terror-related charges, reports the Mirror.
The bombshell Court of Appeal ruling could now open the door for 150 ‘terrorists’ – including other ISIS brides and fighters – to make similar audacious bids to return to Britain.
