Shamima Begum, one of three schoolgirls who fled the UK to IS-controlled territory, has said she understands public anger towards her, but insisted she is not a “bad person”.
Ms Begum told The Shamima Begum Story podcast, in a series of interviews with the BBC, that she accepts she is viewed “as a danger, as a risk”, but blamed her portrayal in the media. She added: “I’m just so much more than Isis (another term for the so-called Islamic State) and I’m so much more than everything I’ve been through.”
Ms Begum was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey and into IS-controlled territory with two other schoolgirls in 2015. The 23-year-old is now locked in a legal battle with the UK government to try to have her citizenship restored.
