Shamima Begum: 'A lot of people should have sympathy for me,' IS bride tells Sky News
IS bride Shamima Begum has told Sky News "a lot of people should have sympathy" for her as she spoke of her wish to return to the UK.
The 19-year-old, who has just given birth to a baby boy in a Syrian refugee camp, also said the UK authorities had no evidence of her "doing anything dangerous", in response to concerns she could pose a security threat.
:: Read the full interview transcript here
In the interview with Sky correspondent John Sparks she claimed she was "just a housewife" during her four years in the terrorist caliphate in Syria, where she married a young Dutch IS fighter called Yago Riedijk three weeks after she arrived in the country in 2015.
While she was aware of beheadings and executions being carried out by the extremists but she was "okay with it", because she had heard "Islamically that is allowed".
The teen mother also could not see "any reason" why her newborn son would be taken away from her if she returned to Britain.
She revealed she had been radicalised by watching videos on the internet shortly before leaving Britain as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join IS four years ago.
And she begged her family not to give up trying to get her back to Britain, having previously given them "a big slap in the face" by ignoring their pleas to return.
Questions have been raised over whether Britain would be able to prevent her eventual return to the UK.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid has warned he "will not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS, but Justice Secretary David Gauke told Sky News: "We can't make people stateless."
Shamima Begum said: "I think a lot of people should have sympathy towards me for everything I have been through.
"I didn't know what I was getting into when I left.
"I was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they'd let me come back.
"Because I can't live in this camp forever."
The head of MI6 Alex Younger has warned would-be returnees were "potentially very dangerous", given that someone who had been in "that sort of position" was likely to have acquired certain "skills or connections".
But she claimed: "They don't have any evidence against me doing anything dangerous.
"When I went to Syria I was just a housewife for the entire four years. Stayed at home took care of my kids.
"I never did anything dangerous. I never made propaganda. I never encouraged people to come to Syria."
She was also seemingly relaxed over the brutality of IS rule, which included beheadings.
She said: "Yeah, I knew about those things and I was okay with it.
"From what I heard, Islamically that is all allowed so I was okay with it."
Prominent London-based imam Ajmal Masroor told Sky News this was not the case.
"Show me where in the sayings of the prophet does it say it's justifiable? In fact, God says contrary - taking one innocent life is like taking the lives of the entire humanity," he said.
"Shamima, where does it say the beheading of non-Muslims - people who disagree with you - is allowed? Where does it say that?"
Shamima Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase from Bethnal Green Academy in east London, who travelled together to Syria.
While Kadiza Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike in 2016, she did not know what had happened to her other friend.
She had two other children - a boy and a girl - during her time with IS, but both died young due to sickness.
She has named her new baby after her first son.
She said the baby boy was the reason she wanted to return to the UK.
She said: "I left because of him... trying to give him a better life. I would try my best to keep him with me.
"I don't see any reason why they would take him away from me."
But striking an unrepentant note, she added: "I don't regret it because it's changed me as a person. It's made me stronger, tougher.
"I married my husband. I would not have had someone like him back in the UK.
"I had my kids. I did have a good time there."
Despite this, in a personal plea to her family she said: "Please don't give up on trying to get me back, I really don't want to stay here.
"I am sorry for leaving."
The lawyer representing the teenager's family said they were "very concerned" about the welfare of the newborn child and were hoping the baby and Shamima Begum would be brought back to the UK.
Mohammed Akunjee told Sky News: "We are hoping that the Home Office are able to supply travel documents for the child, the grandchild, who is entirely innocent of everything in this... And whatever Shamima will need to face, in terms of British law and justice, then she will have to face that."