Shamima Begum, who fled her East London home to join the Islamic State (IS) in 2015, has apologized to the people of Britain and asked for their forgiveness.
Begum was 15 years old when she traveled to Syria in support of the terror group, and, as a result, the now-22-year-old is not allowed to return to the UK following a Supreme Court ruling in early 2021. She has been arguing for the decision to be overturned ever since.
On Wednesday, September 15, Begum - whose British citizenship was revoked by the Home Office in 2019 - spoke to Good Morning Britain in her first-ever live broadcast interview.
Speaking from a refugee camp in Syria, she asked the British people for forgiveness, saying: "I know it’s very hard for the British people to try and forgive me because they have lived in fear of IS and lost loved ones because of IS.
"But I also have lived in fear of IS and I also lost loved ones because of IS, so I can sympathize with them in that way.
"I know it is very hard for them to forgive me but I say from the bottom of my heart that I am so sorry if I ever offended anyone by coming here, if I ever offended anyone by the things I said."
Begum, who was wearing a Nike baseball cap and grey vest during the interview, even offered to help UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his bid to tackle terrorism as he "clearly doesn’t know what he is doing".
She said: "I think there is a chance and that the Government can see I’m willing to help them in their fight against terrorism. They should see me as an asset instead of a threat to them."
When asked about reports that she had sewn suicide vests onto IS members, she denied the claims, stating, per the Evening Standard: "No, I did not do this thing I have been accused. If you really think that I did this then why don’t you bring me back and put me on trial."
Begum continued: "These accusations have been leaked to media. It was so easily leaked to the media it was made for the media, not the Government. The Government knows the truth and knows I did nothing wrong.
"I would accept [going to jail]. If I was given a fair trial. And given a chance to tell my side of the story. And the judge said I need to go to jail then I would accept that. I want to live in a democracy.
"But honestly the only crime I committed was being dumb enough to join IS."
She was then quizzed over her 2019 remarks that the Manchester Arena attack was "justified" due to the airstrikes that killed civilians in Syria.
When asked if she had changed her stance on the attack, Begum replied: "I do not believe that one evil justifies another evil.
She went on to say: "I don’t think that women and children should be killed for other people’s motives and agendas. I didn’t know about the Manchester Bombings when I was asked I didn’t know that women and children were killed.
"I had no connection to the outside world when I was in IS. I didn’t have a phone, my husband couldn’t use the internet.
"So we were really unaware of anything going on outside. We were only aware of what was going on in the Middle East. I know it is hard for some people to believe."
When she joined IS as a teenager, Begum said she thought at the time that she was "doing the right thing" and hadn't planned to "hurt" anyone. "I was being fed a lot of information on the internet by people in ISIS," she said.
She also insisted that she "would rather die" than go back to IS.
She declared: "If IS were to come back right now and say, 'Who wants to join us and whoever doesn't join us, we'll kill them. I would rather die. I would rather die than go back to IS."
Begum, who is of Bangladeshi descent, also claimed that if she were to go to the South Asian country, she would face the death penalty.
She said: "I've never been to Bangladesh, I do not have claim of Bangladeshi citizenship. Bangladesh has already said that they will never let me back in and they said If I do ever come back in, it will be the death penalty for me."
Begum added: "How can a country like the UK, who does not believe in the death penalty, how can they expect me to go to a country where I will be killed."
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