Shamima Begum’s startling new look as she battles to return to Britain from Syrian camp

Dramatic reinvention of exiled jihadi bride: Shamima Begum ditches her niqab for new look as she battles to return to Britain from Syrian camp

  • Shamima Begum agreed to be photographed at Syrian camp for IS supporters
  • The 21-year-old has swapped wearing a black niqab for wearing casual clothes 
  • She is among other stranded British women after her citizenship was revoked

With her fashionable sunglasses, styled hair and casual clothes, she could be a university student or a shopper in Oxford Street.

But this young woman is 21-year-old jihadi bride Shamima Begum, posing in western clothing as she tries to distance herself from her past as a member of the murderous Islamic State.

She agreed to be photographed at the weekend after she was tracked down to the Roj camp for IS supporters in north-east Syria.

The former IS child bride from Bethnal Green, east London, is fighting to return to the UK and has stopped wearing a black niqab and headscarves. 

Shamima Begum, now sporting fasionable sunglasses and casual clothes, has posed in western clothing as she tried to distance herself from her past as a member of Islamic State 

But, while happy to be photographed, Begum would not comment while her lawyers challenge the decision to strip her of her British citizenship.

Last month the UK’s Supreme Court ruled on national security grounds that she cannot return to the UK to pursue an appeal against the removal of her citizenship in 2019.

She is now reported to be keeping company with other women at the camp who have abandoned their headscarfs and Islamic dress. 

Begum, 21, no longer wears her black niqab or headscarves. She is one of several British women stranded in the Roj camp in Syria, after having their citizenship revoked

Begum, 21, no longer wears her black niqab or headscarves. She is one of several British women stranded in the Roj camp in Syria, after having their citizenship revoked

However, her refusal to talk to the media makes it difficult to evaluate to what extent she has rejected her past.

She was 15 when she ran away with two other schoolgirls to Syria to marry a Dutch jihadi in 2015. 

When she was tracked down to a detention camp four years later she was pregnant, widowed and had lost two children. 

Her third died shortly after birth. Initially, she said she had no regrets about joining IS but later said she had spoken in shock and in fear of retribution.

She is one of several British women stranded in Roj after having their citizenship revoked.

Camp manager Nora Abdo told the Daily Telegraph that, although there were diehards in the camp, there was a trend of rejecting IS ideology.

Shamima Begum was 15 when she ran away with two other schoolgirls to Syria to marry a Dutch jihadi in 2015.

Shamima Begum was 15 when she ran away with two other schoolgirls to Syria to marry a Dutch jihadi in 2015.

‘We’ve noticed the change in their clothing,’ she said. ‘They want to come home. They say they’re ready to pay… for their crimes. Some are thinking about the future for their kids.’

Sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor, who created the Orbit tower for the 2012 London Olympics, and Begum’s lawyer Tasnime Akunjee have claimed Britain’s treatment of Begum is racist. 

They said that if ‘four young white schoolgirls from Wiltshire were enticed to go to Syria’ to join IS, Britain ‘would be demanding no expense be spared and not a moment wasted in having them returned to the safety of their homes’.