Sharmeena Begum (born 1999) is a jihadi bride who left the United Kingdom to join the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

(ISIL) in December 2014. Two months later, in February 2015, her school friends Amira Abase,

Shamima Begum Shamima Begum (born 25 August 1999) is a British born woman, who left the UK in 2015 aged 15. She obtained entry to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In February 2019, Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, acting for th ...

, and Kadiza Sultana joined her in occupied Syria. Begum is one of the youngest British teenagers to join ISIL. In February 2019, she was described as missing. Begum was tracked down by the BBC in 2023, and is living in Syria under a different identity.

Background

Begum was born to Shahnaz Begum and Mohammad Uddin, who are of Bangladeshi origin. She was raised by her mother until her father joined them in the UK in 2007. Begum's mother died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in January 2014. Her father remarried in September 2014, and Begum left for Syria in December of that year. Begum's father said that her behavior had changed; she stopped listening to Western music and began going to her room to pray, but he assumed that she was grieving her mother's death. At the time of her father's remarriage, she lived with her grandmother. Members of Begum's family were certain that she was targeted for recruitment by a group known as the Sisters Forum within the

Islamic Forum of Europe The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) is an Islamic organisation based in the United Kingdom with affiliates in Europe.brainwashing" her, telling her that she would meet her recently-deceased mother in

paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

if she died a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

, and reportedly brought her to the airport for her departure. Sharmeena Begum was friends with Amira Abase,

(unrelated) and Kadiza Sultana, who left for Syria few months later. All four attended Bethnal Green Academy.

Joining ISIL

Begum became increasingly interested in religious themes after her mother died, although her family had previously described her as non-religious. She is said to have begun praying, and stopped listening to Western music. Begum did not get along with her new stepmother, and had gone to live with one of her grandmothers. According to police, she was encouraged by two unidentified women to join ISIL. They brought Begum to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

for a flight to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, from where she made her way to Syria. According to reports by her family, she purchased the plane ticket with £500 that she persuaded her grandmother to give her. Begum used her grandmother's passport for her travels, telling her that she needed to borrow the passport for her schoolwork. East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre - geograph

East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre - geograph

The women who encouraged her are thought to be members of a group known as the Sisters Forum, part of the

Islamic Forum of Europe The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) is an Islamic organisation based in the United Kingdom with affiliates in Europe.East London Mosque The East London Mosque (ELM) is situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate East. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in Europe accommodating ...

denied any involvement in Begum's

radicalisation Radicalization (or radicalisation) is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radicalizat ...

. Two weeks after her departure, she reportedly called her father to tell him that she did not intend to return. After his daughter's disappearance, Uddin told police about his suspicion that Begum might have been encouraged by Islamists and her three friends might also be at risk. The Metropolitan Police subsequently approached the three girls to question them about their friend. Since they were minors, they gave them letters to give to their parents to give permission for the questioning. The letters were not passed along, and the police did not follow up. Begum was joined two months after her departure by her three friends from Bethnal Green Academy, who had also made their way to Syria via Turkey. They reportedly met in

Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, ...

. Begum reportedly married a Bosnian fighter who was later killed. Shamima Begum reported last seeing her in Baghuz in June 2018. Jasmine Jawhar, author of ''Terrorists' use of the internet: The case of DAESH'', said that Begum and her school friends were "mesmerised by the romantic idea of jihad.

Criticism of police response

Begum's travel to Islamic State-occupied Syria, followed by the travel of three of her friends, triggered a discussion of whether UK security officials could have prevented the other girls from following her example. Parents of fellow students said that they were unaware that Begum had travelled to Islamic State territory. Begum's father criticised the police for ignoring his concerns that her friends might follow her example. On 19 February 2019, Metropolitan Police commissioner

Cressida Dick Dame Cressida Rose Dick (born 16 October 1960) is a British retired senior police officer who served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2017 to 2022. She is both the first female and first openly homosexual officer to lead the M ...

defended the police against claims that they should have been able to anticipate Begum's friends following her example. Dick denied that Begum was travelling on the same plane as another teenage recruit who was prevented from travelling. Acknowledging that another 15-year-old girl was prevented from travelling the night Begum left, she said she thought the other girl was on a different plane. As for criticism that the police could have prevented her friends from following her example, Dick said that police did speak with her friends but saw them as witnesses rather than potential victims at the time; "knowing somebody's intentions is 'extremely complicated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begum, Sharmeena 1999 births 2010s missing person cases British expatriates in Syria English female criminals English Islamists English people of Bangladeshi descent Female Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members from the United Kingdom Formerly missing people Living people Missing person cases in Syria People from Bethnal Green People of the Syrian civil war

Background

Joining ISIL

Criticism of police response

See also

References