Name Amira Shamima | ||
Amira Abase, Shamima Begum and Kadiza Sultana are three British schoolgirls from the Bethnal Green Academy in London who left home in February 2015 to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue an estimated 550 women and girls from Western countries have traveled to join the Islamic State as of 2015—part of what some have called "a jihadi, girl-power subculture".
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Background
The three girls had been questioned by the police in December 2014 after another girl from their school travelled to Syria, but were found not to be at risk. They flew via Turkish Airlines from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul on 17 February. Their families went to Turkey in March to probe the disappearance, deeming the police investigation inadequate.
Their disappearance has been attributed to Aqsa Mahmood, a Glasgow woman who joined ISIL in 2013. There have been electronic communications between the girls and Mahmood. She faces criminal charges if she returns. Mahmood denies the allegations.
In March 2015, footage was circulated of Abase Hussen, father of Amira Abase, on a 2012 rally led by Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary against the film Innocence of Muslims. The Metropolitan Police examined the footage but said that it was unlikely that offences had been committed. Hussen said in April that he feels ashamed of his involvement in the rally, as he did not know who had organised it.
The girls stole family jewellery to pay for their flight. They will not face criminal charges if they return to the United Kingdom.
Aftermath
The disappearance resulted in the Metropolitan Police giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons on its circumstances in March 2015. The families of the girls received an apology from Scotland Yard, who did not tell them about the other girl from their school who went to Syria in 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that police should not be made "scapegoats" for people joining ISIL. Contrary to the stance of the Metropolitan Police, Cameron said "Whoever has gone out to join a terrorist organisation is breaking the law and has to face the consequences of breaking the law and we have to let the law take its course in the proper way".
In March 2015, a travel ban was imposed upon five girls from the Bethnal Green Academy due to concerns from social services that they would join ISIL. The girls' identities were kept secret, but the Press Association won a challenge at the High Court to be able to disclose that the girls attend the same school as the three who had already joined the group, stating that it was in the public interest.
Kadiza's family in a phone interview with ITV in August 2016 said that they believed her to have died in an airstrike in May 2016 while planning to escape. The family's lawyer told ITV that she became too scared of making an escape attempt after another girl Samra Kesinovic was beaten to death for trying to escape.