Pregnant IS teen fears baby will be taken away in UK

A pregnant teenager who went to Syria to join the Islamic State group fears her unborn baby will be taken away from her as her family pleaded for the runaway schoolgirl to be allowed back to the UK urgently.

This video grab taken from CCTV shows Shamima Begum. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

Shamima Begum said she understood the controversy and intense media scrutiny a return to the UK would bring, but said she did not want to be separated from her child.

Speaking from a refugee camp in northern Syria, she said: “What do you think will happen to my child? Because I don’t want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.”

Begum said she had been taken to hospital after having contractions following her arrival at the refugee camp and could give birth “any day”.

The 19-year-old was tracked down by a national newspaper four years after she travelled to Syria as a 15-year-old to join IS. She said she would “do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child”.

In a statement issued by their lawyer, her family urged the UK government to help her return to Britain to protect the welfare of her baby “as a matter of urgency”.

“Given Shamima’s four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured,” they said. “Now, we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamima’s two young children have died – children that we will never come to know as a family. This is the hardest of news to bear.

“The welfare of Shamima’s unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby, who is entirely blameless in these events.”

Begum acknowledged she could face a police investigation on her return, admitting: “I knew that coming back to the UK wouldn’t be a quiet thing. It’s uncomfortable. If I ever do go back, it’ll be a long time before the cameras stop and all the questions stop.”

The former east London schoolgirl had previously admitted she did not regret travelling to IS-controlled Syria.

Haras Rafiq, chief executive of counter-extremism organisation Qulliam, warned it could be a “challenge” to de-radicalise Begum if she returned to Britain.

Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015.