Bethnal Green residents fear community will be seen as terrorist sympathisers if schoolgirl returns

If Shamima Begum thought her plea to return to Britain would be met with unreserved approval in the east London neighbourhood she fled four years ago, she is likely to be disappointed.

Aspirational Bethnal Green schoolgirls of Bangladeshi origin, of the type Shamima was before she fell under the spell of Islamic State, typically go on to become workers in the City, teachers, nurses, shopworkers, solicitors and sundry other occupations - but not terror brides.

So the prospect of her returning home has understandably led to fears that an entire community may once again be tarred with the same brush that in the eyes of bigots damns them all as Islamist terror sympathisers.

Community groups and residents in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets - home to dozens of second, third and fourth generation migrants who, like Shamima’s parents, came to Britain to build a better life - are divided on whether she should be allowed back at all or whether, given she left as a child who was groomed and brainwashed by violent extremists, she should be given a second chance.

But most agree she will have to pay the consequences of having taken such a radical step as to pack her bags and join a terror group hell-bent on killing innocent civilians.

John Biggs, the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, spoke for many in the area when he told The Telegraph: “We should remember that Shamima Begum was a child when she left London and was the clear victim of radicalisation. Her lack of remorse and her apparent continued support for IS however are deeply worrying and cannot be left unchallenged. If she returns it is entirely right she is held to account for her actions.”

There is a similar feeling among the area’s varied Muslim community, where people fear that once again they will be blamed for the irresponsible actions of a few.

To them she cannot simply be allowed home without facing the consequences of travelling to Syria to actively support the building of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (Isil) delusional ‘caliphate’.

Khalil Yousuf, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which has a mosque close to where Shamima was brought up, said: “The UK should permit her to return for the sake of her innocent unborn child. We should show our humanity towards that unborn child so that he is not left to suffer the fate of his two siblings who have apparently died of illness or malnutrition.

"In terms of the mother, if she returns she should be fully investigated by the authorities. If she is released into society, she should be monitored carefully with appropriate strict restrictions placed to ensure that it is not possible for her to cause any harm. The safety of the country should be treated as a priority."

Speaking close to the former Bethnal Green Academy attended by Shamima before she left with Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, aged just 15, to join Isil, Ellie Ward, 47, a cafe owner, said: “I think her age says it all really. We have a duty to look after our young and our children and she was too young at the time to know what she was doing.

“There are some evil people around who manipulate young minds and make them do things they think are a good idea at the time. I am sure she will go through the system and enough people will talk to her to work out if she really is a harm.”

Adeel Javed, 40, a Muslim shop owner on bustling Bethnal Green Road who came to the UK from Pakistan as a young man, said: “She definitely made the wrong choice to start with. But you can forgive people and bring them back if they understand what they did wrong. The baby deserves to be in a safer place than a bombardment area.”

He added: “A few people can’t just change Bethnal Green. We don’t support ISIS - it is a minority group trying to persuade people they are right by killing people.”

Others, however, had less sympathy.

Mike Gee, 66, a shop volunteer, said Shamima’s former school, now known as Mulberry Academy, labours under a poor reputation as a result of the three girls leaving for Syria.

“We now call it the travel bureau,” he said, adding that Shamima posed a risk of grooming others if she came back to the area. “We had a Bangladeshi gentleman in here yesterday and he doesn’t want her back because he wants to protect his kids. Imagine if the baby is born here and she speaks to other mothers in the community at a toddler group? It is a domino effect.”

Few believe that Shamima can go back to the kind of normal London life her school contemporaries expected to lead.

Indeed Emma Kelly, 27, a teacher working with the anti-radicalisation Prevent programme school, said it may be in Ms Begum’s own best interests to remain abroad.

“For the safety of the child she is carrying I think it is better that she stays in Syria. She believes England isn’t good and poses a risk to people living here,” she said. “It is a sad case. We feel emotion for the child but at the same time it will be a risk to the people of London.”

Helin Turunc, 18, who is Kurdish origin and works as a shop assistant in Columbia Road’s famous flower market, said: “If she comes back there will be a lot of tension. I don’t think she should come here with the same identity and live in the same place for her own safety.”

Over at Bethnal Green’s Baitul Aman mosque and cultural centre the iman, Moulana Malik, said he fears Shamima and the other ‘Isil brides’ still pose a danger.

“They think bad things - their views are not in line with the peace of the community,” he said. “They are a danger for the community.”

Whatever happens next one thing is clear. Shamima Begum’s return to Bethnal Green - if and when it ever takes place - will be far harder than her leaving.