British Isis bride Shamima Begum reveals she'd "rather die" than return to ISIS. Photo / ITV
British Isis bride Shamima Begum reveals she'd "rather die" than return to ISIS. Photo / ITV
Islamic State bride Shamima Begum has begged UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow her to return to the UK, six years after she fled as a teen to join the terror group.
Now aged 22, Begum insisted she'd "rather die" than return to IS in a bombshell new interview, which revealed the young woman's radical new look.
Speaking to ITV's Good Morning Britain for her first live TV interview this week, Begum apologised for the decision to run away to Syria in February 2015, when she was just 15.
In a dramatic contrast to the black hijab, jilbab and niqab she has previously been pictured wearing, Begum instead sported Western clothing for the interview, including a grey tank top, make-up and a Nike cap over her untied hair.
"I know there are some people, no matter what I say or what I do, they will not believe that I have changed, believe that I want to help," she said on air.
"But for those who have even a drop of mercy and compassion and empathy in their hearts, I tell you from the bottom of my heart that I regret every, every decision I've made since I stepped into Syria and I will live with it for the rest of my life."
Begum fled the UK with two friends and married a Dutch recruit, living under the Islamic State regime for three years.
Shamima Begum, pictured during an interview with the BBC, previously wore a black hijab, jilbab and niqab. Picture / BBC
She had two children who both died before she was found, heavily pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019, before losing her third child to pneumonia.
Former UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid then removed her UK citizenship on national security grounds, effectively barring her from returning, and she remains in the camp to this day.
But now, Begum is demanding a second chance – and claims she can even help the UK.
"I think I could very much help you in your fight against terrorism because you clearly don't know what you're doing," she told Good Morning Britain.
"I did not want to hurt anyone in Syria or anywhere else in the world. At the time I did not know it was a death cult, I thought it was an Islamic community."
She also apologised for claiming the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing which killed 22 people was "retaliation" for attacks on areas controlled by IS.
"I do not believe that one evil justifies another evil. I don't think that women and children should be killed for other people's motives and for other people's agendas," she said.
"I did not know about the Manchester bombing when I was asked. I did not know that people were killed, I did not know that women and children were hurt because of it."
But Begum's plea was not met with a great deal of sympathy, with controversial media figure Piers Morgan branding her a "monster" and accusing her of "lying".
"Just as well I'm not interviewing this lying, snivelling, cold-hearted, self-serving Isis bride monster, or I'd have seriously lost my temper by now" he posted on Twitter alongside a clip of the interview.
