Jump directly to the content

A BRITISH jihadi bride is begging the UK to take her back from her "ticking time bomb" detention camp in Syria where Shamima Begum is also being held.

A camp commander has now revealed there are 19 UK women and 35 children detained in just one compound where ISIS ideology still runs rampant.

The sprawling detention compound is home to tens of thousands of relatives of people suspected of belonging to ISIS
10
The sprawling detention compound is home to tens of thousands of relatives of people suspected of belonging to ISISCredit: AFP
Shamima Begum fled to the UK to join ISIS aged 15 and has spent five years inside Al Roj detention camp
10
Shamima Begum fled to the UK to join ISIS aged 15 and has spent five years inside Al Roj detention campCredit: PA

It is the first time a specific figure has emerged and it's far higher than previous estimates.

The UK has stripped all 35 ISIS brides of their citizenship and is refusing to allow them to return due to fears over national security.

Begum, 24, who fled the UK to join the death cult aged 15, has spent the last five years confined inside Al Roj, one of two sprawling detention camps stuffed full with Islamic State families.

She is joined by a 45-year-old former teacher from Leeds, who regrets leaving the UK with her Porsche-driving barrister husband in 2015 so that he could take up arms with the so-called 'caliphate'.

read more on shamima begum

"I miss my family so much. My mum, my dad, my brothers," she told .

"I just want to go back and live with them and never ever go out of the country ever. I am traumatised."

Her lawyer husband from Birmingham, Yasser Iqbal, 46, is believed to be in a men's prison in northern Syria after being captured.

Brit ISIS brides live among tens of thousands who have been confined to the grim makeshift cities of Al Roj and Al Hol in northeast Syria since the death cult collapsed in 2017.

But the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who guard the huge compounds have warned that extremism is rising once again inside its walls.

They are now urging the UK to take back the 35 women and their kids after calling the camps a "ticking time bomb" where ISIS ideology still runs deep.

One commander told MoS: "We want the British Government to take their citizens and conduct trials in Britain.

"Their presence in the camp is a ticking time bomb, posing a danger to everyone."

The Brit mums are said to be "indoctrinating" their children, largely born out of forced marriages and rape, with "extremist ideologies" and refusing to send them to school.

ISIS bride Shamima Begum LOSES battle for British citizenship and must stay in Syria for now

In February, Siamand Ali, a commander in the SDF, also branded the two camps a "ticking time bomb" and appealed for international help.

He told Sky News: "The IS prisons and camps have become a way in which IS... can re-establish themselves and in the camps you've got a whole generation trained in IS ideology, methods and way of life - it's a ticking time bomb which can explode anytime."

Begum, from Bethnal Green, is one of 40,000 foreign nationals - 60 per cent of them children - being held in the camps and ISIS prisons in northern Syria.

In February, Begum lost her citizenship appeal after her British status was stripped in 2019 on national security grounds.

It was the latest in her countless legal bids to claw her way back into Britain - nine years after she fled to marry an ISIS jihadist.

They had three children, none of whom survived.

Begum used to be imprisoned inside Al Hol camp (pictured this month)
10
Begum used to be imprisoned inside Al Hol camp (pictured this month)Credit: AFP
ISIS ideology is said to festering at two detention camps in northeastern Syria
10
ISIS ideology is said to festering at two detention camps in northeastern SyriaCredit: AFP
SDF forces say they are unable to stop the spread of extremism in the camps
10
SDF forces say they are unable to stop the spread of extremism in the campsCredit: AFP

She will stay in Syria for now, but her case can still be taken to the UK Supreme Court which could cost the tax payer as much as £7million in legal fees.

After being stripped of her citizenship, Begum argued she was left stateless and admitted previously that she was "brainwashed" and regretted her actions in Syria.

However, in past interviews an unremorseful Begum said she had no regrets about joining the barbaric Islamic State and was not fazed by seeing discarded heads in bins.

She also told how she had sewn ISIS bombers into their suicide vests.

Read More on The Sun

Now, she said she spends her time watching ITV's Good Morning Britain in her tent and binging blockbusters such as Men in Black.

A year ago, The Sun exposed how an ISIS slave saw Begum at a terrorist training camp where she was taught to use suicide belts and guns.

The ex-Londoner is just one of 19 UK ISIS brides and 35 children held in the Syrian camp
10
The ex-Londoner is just one of 19 UK ISIS brides and 35 children held in the Syrian campCredit: BBC supplied by Pixel8000
Begum pictured before she left to join ISIS aged 15
10
Begum pictured before she left to join ISIS aged 15Credit: PA
The schoolgirl fled the UK for Syria when she was 15
10
The school girl fleeing in 2015 with two pals

Shamima Begum - how she fled UK for Syria

Begum and two pals – Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase – ran away to Syria in February 2015.

She used her elder sister’s passport to flee with her Bethnal Green Academy friends.

The trio flew to Turkey and then crossed the border into Syria with the aid of smugglers.

Within weeks of arriving, Shamima was married to Isis jihadi Yago Riedijk, 27, from Holland.

They had two children who died from malnutrition and disease.

The couple were separated as they fled Baghouz, the village where a few hundred Isis fighters were holed up in a desperate last stand.

Shamima ended up in a Kurdish refugee camp where she gave birth to her third child.

Eldest sister Renu revealed that her family had lost contact with her for the “longest time” until .

Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her UK citizenship in 2019 to stop her from ever coming back. 

She has repeatedly lost legal bids to appeal that decision and remains in Syria.

Alan Duncan shows 'Dila' a picture of Shamima as she positively ID'd the Brit
10
Alan Duncan shows 'Dila' a picture of Begum as she positively ID'd the Brit at the terrorist training camp
Forty thousands foreign nationals are inside Al Hol and Al Roj camps
10
Forty thousands foreign nationals are inside Al Hol and Al Roj campsCredit: AFP
Topics