Shamima Begum, the young British woman we have left in a camp for the women and children discarded by Islamic State, is back in the news. The 22-year-old spoke of how she is scared that she will be executed after being told that she will face trial in Rojava in Syria for terror offences.
When I tweeted about how horrific this situation is and how I think Shamima should be back in the UK, I of course faced a backlash from those who believe she somehow deserves everything she is getting. It would be so simple to say all this would be different if Shamima were white. And I think it would. But what shocks me the most is the lack of understanding about how Islamic State — like all male-led extremist organisations — groom women and children. Shamima was 15 when she left London for Syria. She, like countless others, was groomed online by men trained to recruit young women as sex slaves for those who were committing the horrors in the Middle East that we saw unfold so vividly. They are still unfolding to this day.
