Shamima Begum: 'Can I come home, pretty please?'

15 June 2021, 08:26 | Updated: 15 June 2021, 09:02

ISIS bride Shamima Begum has said she was a "dumb kid" and would "love" to rehabilitate others as she begged to be allowed back to the UK.

The UK Supreme Court ruled in February that Begum cannot return to the UK to pursue an appeal against the removal of her British citizenship.

When asked what she would say to people, who support her being blocked from entering the country, Begum added: "Can I come home please, pretty please?"

Speaking from al-Roj prison camp in Syria, the 21-year-old said she doesn't think she "needs to be rehabilitated."

She told journalist Andrew Drury: "I don't think I was a terrorist. I think I was just a dumb kid who made one mistake.

"I personally don't think that I need to be rehabilitated, but I would want to help other people be rehabilitated. I would love to help."

Begum was 15 when she and two friends left the UK to join ISIS in Syria.

She married a Dutch convert with whom she had three children, all of which have died. Her husband is thought be in a Kurdish-run prison in Syria.

Read more: Shamima Begum says she joined IS so she wouldn't be 'the friend left behind'

Earlier this month she told new documentary that she left to join the terror group because she "didn't want to be the friend left behind".

Begum described herself as the “black sheep” of her family, saying she turned to Islam to be “part of something”. 

“It was the holidays when I decided to leave with my friends,” she said.

“I knew it was a big decision, but I just felt compelled to do it quickly. I didn't want to be the friend that was left behind.

”She added: “My mum didn’t see me walking outside of the door. I didn’t hug her, I really regret not hugging her.”

In the film she says losing three children left her feeling suicidal because of the grief.