The Telegraph
Is Shamima Begum’s transformation a ploy to get back into Britain?
When Shamima Begum was first pictured in a Syrian refugee camp, she looked deadpan into the camera, her face framed by her hijab, and said she did not regret joining Isil. In response, Sajid Javid, the then home secretary, revoked her UK citizenship. This week, she has been photographed again, still in the camp, this time smiling, wearing sunglasses with a T-shirt and unzipped hoodie. In the intervening years, the Bethnal Green schoolgirl – who left for Syria in 2015, aged 15, with two friends – has lost a baby to pneumonia and unsuccessfully challenged the removal of her citizenship. To some, the new pictures are a sign that her world view has changed, and that she has left the Islamic State behind. Others say it is part of a ploy to win sympathy following her defeat in the Supreme Court. Hadiya Masieh, 43, a former Islamist turned intervention provider for Prevent, the Home Office’s counter-extremism programme, is trying to make sense of the pictures. “There is no way in hell Shamima would have been able to wear those clothes under Isil,” says Masieh, chief executive of Groundswell Project, an umbrella organisation for countering extremism. “It goes against everything Islamic State stands for. Under their regime, they would lash you if you had a tiny bit of hair showing.” Masieh is well placed to parse what could be happening with Begum, having spoken to around 100 supporters…
