Shamima Begum's life now in 'filthy' prison camp and why she could 'run free' in days
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Shamima Begum could be set free years after running away to join ISIS terrorists, a former camp guard has said. In 2015, Begum left the UK for Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS), where she became the wife of Dutch-born Yago Riedijk. Four years later, she was stripped of her British citizenship and has been battling ever since to try and get the decision overturned. Now, 24 years old, Begum is living in a Syrian detention camp.
But in a recent turn of events, she could be "running free within days", according to a Kurdish-Syrian former guard. After the fall of President Assad to Turkish-backed forces last month, Begum could be released by her own guards. The Kurdish-led Syrian Defence Force (SDF), who runs the detention camps, has come under attack by Turkish airstrikes in recent days and ground assault by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new Syrian government. Speaking to the Daily Express, a former guard said: "If HTS and the Turks get close to the prison camps, the SDF could release all the prisoners. If they feel they can't defend the camps because they need to defend their homes and loved ones, they will open the gates of hell.".
Begum is held in al-Roj camp alongside 20 British women, 40 children and thousands of ISIS female detainees. In 2015, she left east London with her close friends from Bethnal Green Academy, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to join one of the most savage terrorist groups in history.
She ignored her family's warnings that Syria was a "dangerous place" and married the notoriously hardline IS member, Riedijk, 27. They had three children together, who all later died, before the couple split. Begum claimed he was arrested for spying and was tortured.
