This is the moment Shamima Begum snapped at a reporter as she stormed out of her first face-to-face interview in years.
Appearing ‘pale and thin’, the ISIS bride refused to answer questions during the brief sit-down at the grim al-Hol camp in Syria.
Reform leader Nigel Farage mentioned he has become ‘more thoughtful’ about allowing Shamima Begum to return after the Trump administration urged the UK to reconsider.
When an interviewer put these comments to Begum, she replied: ‘No comment.’
Asked if she thought America’s intervention could open the door for her return to Britain, she gave the same answer, before turning on the reporter.
‘If you guys have anything to tell us but we don’t have anything to say,’ she said, before leaving in a huff.
Ms Begum, now 26, was born and raised in Bethnal Green, east London, before travelling to Syria to join ISIS in 2015.
She later became a child bride to Dutch Islamic convert Yago Riedijk, with whom she had three children – who all died as infants.
In 2019, Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship, leading her to start a prolonged legal and public relations effort to have the decision overturned.
Appearing ‘pale and thin’, the ISIS bride refused to answer questions during the brief sit-down at the grim al-Hol camp in Syria
Begum was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, into territory controlled by IS in 2015
Her latest interview, with the Daily Express, was the first she had given to camera since a controversial BBC podcast in 2023.
Mr Farage made his comments about Begum days after a leading Trump ally called for Britain to repatriate its jihadi bride.
Sebastian Gorka emphasized that any country wanting to be regarded as a ‘serious ally’ of the US should engage in the global struggle against extremist groups by repatriating citizens currently in northern Syria.
During Reform’s South East England conference in January, Mr. Farage expressed to ITV News that ‘it’s very difficult for us to think we should take back people, Shamima Begum and others,’ adding that ‘instinctively, it’s not something I want to do’.
When asked whether he thought the UK should consider such a move, he said: ‘I’ve never wanted to. I’ve instinctively never wanted to.
‘But I’m now thoughtful. I’m thoughtful. I don’t classify her as an Isis, an all-out Isis killer.’
Mr Farage said that he believes her to be ‘a lesser part of the equation’.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said that a Conservative government with her as leader ‘will never take back’ Ms Begum.
She added: ‘Citizenship means committing to a country and wanting its success. It’s not an international travel document for crime tourism.’
The former East London schoolgirl was ‘married off’ to an IS fighter and was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019
David Lammy, the former Labour Foreign Secretary, Ms Begum ‘will not be coming back to the UK’.
Earlier this year on Good Morning Britain, he stated: ‘It’s gone right through the courts. She’s not a UK national. We will not be bringing her back to the UK. We’re really clear about that.’
‘We will act in our security interests. And many of those in those camps are dangerous, are radicals.’
In a conversation with The Times, Mr. Gorka asserted: ‘Any nation wishing to be perceived as a serious ally and friend of the most powerful nation in the world should act in a way that shows that serious commitment’ regarding whether the UK should be compelled to accept Isis members back.
‘That is doubly so for the UK which has a very special place in President Trump’s heart and we would all wish to see the ‘special relationship’ fully re-established.’
