SHAMIMA BEGUM, A BRITISH ‘IS BRIDE’ SMUGGLED INTO SYRIA BY A CANADIAN SPY, CLAIMS BOOK

Wed 31 August 2022:

Shamima Begum, who had traveled to Syria in 2015 to join the Islamic State (IS), was allegedly smuggled into the country by an intelligence agent, according to a new book by writer Richard Kerbaj.

Mohammed al-Rashed, a spy working for Canadian intelligence, smuggled British schoolgirl Shamima Begum and her two friends into Syria in 2015, according to a new book and British media reports that prompted demands for an official inquiry.

The Secret History of the Five Eyes by Richard Kerbaj, a former security correspondent of The Sunday Times, said that the United Kingdom later conspired with Canada to cover up the role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in the case of Begum, who married an ISIL (ISIS) fighter.

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Interestingly, “Five Eyes” is the intelligence-sharing alliance between the UK, US, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. The book is reportedly based on interviews with world leaders and intelligence officials.

A CSIS spokesperson told the BBC he could not “publicly comment on or confirm or deny the specifics of CSIS investigations, operational interests, methodologies or activities”.

According to British media reports, Scotland Yard in the UK was informed that Rashed, a double agent for both Canadian intelligence and the ISIL armed group, smuggled the teenagers into Syria. When he requested asylum at the Canadian embassy in Jordan, he was enlisted by Canada as a spy.

Begum was 15 when she travelled to Syria with Amira Abase, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16, from London in 2015.

As it became clear that Canada was aware of the youngsters’ fate but chose to remain silent while the British Metropolitan Police Service conducted a global hunt for the trio.

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After Rashed was detained by Turkey in 2015, Canada only privately acknowledged its involvement when it feared being revealed. It then successfully lobbied the British to conceal its involvement, according to the book.

The “IS bride” married an IS terrorist during her stay in Syria. Shamima later became pregnant but the child died of pneumonia. Former UK home secretary Sajid Javed had stripped Begum of her UK citizenship in 2019 over national security concerns.

Later a court agreed she could get a fair trial if she was allowed back to Britain. However, Britain’s top court overturned the decision. She is allowed to pursue her appeal but cannot do so from Britain.

Begum, 23, remains in a camp in northern Syria. She is to renew her case at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in November.

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Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for the Begum family, called for an inquiry into what the police and intelligence services knew.

“Britain has lauded its efforts to stop ISIS and the grooming of our children by spending millions of pounds on the Prevent programme and online monitoring. However, at the very same time we have been cooperating with a Western ally, trading sensitive intelligence with them whilst they have effectively been nabbing British children and trafficking them across the Syrian border for delivery to ISIS, all in the name of intelligence gathering,” he said.

“The calculation here is that the lives of British children, and the risk of their death, is part of the algorithm of acceptable risk our Western allies have taken,” he added.

Akunjee said the revelations were of “crucial importance”, given that Begum had argued she was trafficked into Syria.

True or false, the UK Government’s decision to deprive its citizen of her citizenship as mean to abandon her & her British children in Syria was & remains an utter disgrace. #ShamimaBegum https://t.co/w63fx96fNd

— Steve Valdez-Symonds (@stevesymondsAI) August 31, 2022

Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights programme director in the UK at Amnesty International said on Twitter: “True or false, the UK Government’s decision to deprive its citizen of her citizenship as mean to abandon her & her British children in Syria was & remains an utter disgrace.”