Shamima Begum has been seen for the first time in years looking ‘pale and thin’ – as she stormed out of an interview.
The ISIS bride, who concealed her face behind a mask, refused to answer questions during the brief sit-down at the grim al-Hol camp in Syria.
Nigel Farage recently said he had become ‘more thoughtful’ about whether the UK should let Begum return – after the Trump administration suggested it would have to.
When an interviewer put these comments to Begum, she replied: ‘No comment.’
Asked if she thought America’s intervention could open the door for her to go back to Britain, she gave the same answer, before turning on the reporter.
‘If you guys don’t have anything to tell us we don’t have anything to say,’ she raged, before leaving in a huff.
Begum, now 26, was born and raised in Bethnal Green, east London, before travelling to Syria to join ISIS in 2015.
She later became a child bride to Dutch Islamic convert Yago Riedijk, with whom she had three children – who all died as infants.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of British citizenship in 2019, prompting her to launch a long legal and PR campaign in her bid to have the decision reversed.
Appearing ‘pale and thin’, the ISIS bride refused to answer questions during the brief sit-down at the grim al-Hol camp in Syria
Begum became a child bride to Dutch Islamic convert Yago Riedijk, with whom she had three children – who all died as infants
Begum gave her latest interview to a reporter from the Daily Express, who described her as looking ‘pale and thin’.
It was the first she had given to camera since a controversial BBC podcast in 2023.
Mr Farage made his comments about Begum days after a leading Trump ally called for Britain to repatriate its most notorious jihadi bride.
Sebastian Gorka said that any nation that wishes to be seen as a ‘serious ally’ of the US should commit to the international fight against the extremist group by taking back citizens currently in the north east of Syria.
Speaking to ITV News at Reform’s South East England conference in January, Mr Farage said that ‘it’s very difficult for us to think we should take back people, Shamima Begum and others’ and ‘instinctively, it’s not something I want to do’.
When asked whether he thought the UK should consider such a move, he said: ‘I’ve never wanted to. I’ve instinctively never wanted to.
‘But I’m now thoughtful. I’m thoughtful. I don’t classify her as an ISIS, an all-out ISIS killer.’
Mr Farage said that he believes her to be ‘a lesser part of the equation’.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that a Conservative government with her as leader ‘will never take back’ Ms Begum.
She added: ‘Citizenship means committing to a country and wanting its success. It’s not an international travel document for crime tourism.’
David Lammy, the former Labour Foreign Secretary, said Ms Begum ‘will not be coming back to the UK’.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain earlier this year, he said: ‘It’s gone right through the courts. She’s not a UK national. We will not be bringing her back to the UK. We’re really clear about that.’
‘We will act in our security interests. And many of those in those camps are dangerous, are radicals.’
In an interview with The Times, Mr Gorka said: ‘Any nation which wishes to be seen to be a serious ally and friend of the most powerful nation in the world should act in a fashion that reflects that serious commitment’ when asked if the UK should be forced to accept Isis members back.
‘That is doubly so for the UK which has a very special place in President Trump’s heart and we would all wish to see the ‘special relationship’ fully re-established.’
Tens of thousands of captured members of the terror group are currently being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group allied with the West, in huge camps.
Since ISIS was defeated in 2019, the US has been piling on the pressure for its partners to repatriate their citizens, many of whom have been detained for years.
Most European countries, including Spain and France, have also repatriated their citizens so that they can be met with justice.
The former East London schoolgirl was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019
They have expressed worries about the squalid conditions and that not returning them hinders worldwide attempts to fight terrorism.
The American Justice Department has argued it is their ‘moral responsibility’ to bring the prisoners home and try them there.
But Britain has so far taken a hard line on the matter and has refused most repatriation requests- with the most notorious being the Begum case.
The Court of Appeal threw out Begum’s challenge over the removal of her British citizenship last year – although her lawyers have vowed to ‘keep fighting’.
One of her lawyers, Gareth Peirce, claimed her ‘indefinite arbitrary detention’ ran contrary to international law.
‘She and others, other women and children, are in what is not a refugee camp but a prison camp, and that is conceded by the United Kingdom, which has stated to the UN that it agrees that Geneva Convention articles apply,’ she said.
‘Unlawful as that is, there is no exit. There is no way that she can escape from unlawful imprisonment.’
Ms Peirce later said that conditions in the al-Hol camp where Ms Begum remains had worsened. The Red Cross has described the camp as ‘grim’ and ‘extremely volatile’.
But Sir James Eadie KC, for the Home Office, argued Begum was a threat to national security.
He told judges: ‘The fact that someone is radicalised, and may have been manipulated, is not inconsistent with the assessment that they pose a national security risk.’
