UK News

Shamima Begum apologises for saying Manchester Arena attack was ‘justified’

The 22-year-old 'Isis bride' said she was "completely sorry for anyone that has been affected" by the terror group.

The Manc - 15th September 2021

Shamima Begum has begged for the UK Government to put her on trial for terror charges if it means she can return to the UK.

The 22-year-old ‘Isis bride’ said she was “completely sorry for anyone that has been affected” by the terror group.

She also apologised for saying the Manchester Arena bombing was “justified”.

The 22-year-old from east London, who fled her home in 2015 to join terror group Isis, was questioned today on comments she made about the bombing on Good Morning Britain.

Asked for a message to Boris Johnson, Begum said that she could help the Prime Minister in his “fight against terrorism because [he] clearly don’t know what [he’s] doing”.

She told Good Morning Britain: “I want to say that you are clearly struggling with extremism and terrorism in your country. And I want to help with that with giving my own experience from with these extremists and what they say and how they persuade people to do what they do and to come to places like Syria.

“I think I could very much help you in your fight against terrorism, because you clearly don’t know what you’re doing.”

Begum added that while she believes the only crime she committed was being “dumb enough” to come to Isis, she still deserves a fair trial.

She said: “Honestly, the only crime I think I committed was being dumb enough to come to Isis, and even that can be refuted because I was 15 when I came, and you can’t, you know, judge a 15-year-old for making a mistake which he or she very quickly regretted making.

“If you really think I did do this, why don’t you bring me back and put me on trial, and hear my side of the story.

“If you if you honestly believe that, don’t you think I just have to go to jail for it.

“The fact that you think I should rather rot here, instead of face trial… the democracy that you live in, says that everyone deserves a fair trial.”

Richard Madeley also grilled Ms Begum on her 2019 comments about the Manchester Arena attack. She said the attack was “justified” because of airstrikes that killed civilians in Syria.

She said: “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 Isis. 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.”

Richard Madeley asked her why she decided to stay in the terror group after Begum claimed she would “rather die” than return to Isis.

She told him: “It was not possible to leave at all. You had to find connections and even then those connections could be fake Isis police trying to find people trying to leave so they could put them in prison.

“My husband was being watched very closely by Isis he couldn’t even use a phone or go to an internet café so how can we find connections to leave?

“You had to have a lot of money and we didn’t have access to that money to enable us to leave.”

Speaking from Syria and wearing a black Nike baseball cap, Begum said it was “not justifiable to kill innocent people in the name of religion”.