A British Muslim woman says she was detained by the police because her name is similar to Shamima Begum, the London woman who left the country as a teenager to join Isis in Syria.
Shamina Begum, 37, was returning from holiday in Turkey with her partner at Manchester airport when she was told to seek assistance at the e-gate machines.
Ms Begum says a border force staff said her name seemed to be the problem, in that it was similar to “someone of interest”.
Ms Begum made her way through towards baggage reclaim, but says five officers then raced towards them and detained her under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, advising that she shared the same name as someone “wanted”.
“They said ‘your name’s been picked up on the data system’. I said to them, ‘I can’t be Shamima Begum … and I’m not being funny but she’s skinny, I’m curvy’,” Ms Begum said.
Her bag and phone were seized and the traveller claims she was subject to three hours of questioning about the origins of her name, why she is a Muslim, her family history, details of her mortgage payments, whether she “thinks bombing is OK” and more.
Ms Begum, who was eventually released by the police with no further action, said she felt “humiliated” and has since had to access medication from her GP as a result of the ordeal. Prior to going on holiday, both her parents had died.
“I’m traumatised,” she told The Independent. “At first I was confused; I’ve travelled to many destinations previously and never had this problem.
“After I was let go, I cried all the way from the airport to my house and I couldn’t face the outside world for about four weeks,
“In the immediate days after this happened, I’d wake up every day and wish I had not. I’m not a terrorist and didn’t deserve to be treated that way. It was a dark and difficult time which still impacts me, unfortunately.”
The woman from the north of England, who was on her period at the time of the incident, said she was forced to relieve herself in an unlocked toilet in the presence of a male officer.
“It was so humiliating and I could not say anything,” she said. “It’s easy for the police to hand people a leaflet about what a Schedule 7 stop is ... but what about aftercare? It’s taken me six months to talk about it properly.”
She added: “If it isn’t down to my race and religion, why aren’t police stopping every white person who walks through the airport? It’s always the brown and Black people who are targeted.
“It wasn’t just the fact that I was stopped; it was the kind of questions I was asked. Just because I am a Muslim with a Muslim name and background, it doesn’t make me a terrorist.”
The government’s own data shows that terror suspects arrested in Britain are mostly white and British.
“Differences in skin colour aside, we should all be treated equally. The officers had no reason to stop me and couldn’t give me a proper reason for the stop. I didn’t even get an apology. I think I’m just a statistic to the police who they can say was stopped and screened. They stripped me of my humanity and I’m dreading going on holiday again despite my love of travelling.”
Ms Begum, who works at a government agency, had her DNA and fingerprints taken and added to the police database.
In a complaint letter to Greater Manchester Police dated October 2022, Ms Begum wrote: “I was told that my stop was based on the fact that my personal biodata was similar to that of a person of interest in relation to terrorism.
“I contend that this personal biodata was nothing more than my name, which is a very common Bengali name. I, therefore, believe that the stop was entirely arbitrary and as a result of religious and cultural ignorance and the overzealous attitudes of the officers.”
GMP declined to confirm the exact reason for the stop when approached by The Independent, saying it related to her “biodata” which can mean anything from a person’s name to their address.
Cage, an advocacy group that works with Muslim communities, supported Shamina Begum in the aftermath of her Schedule 7 stop and complaint to the police.
“This case is a textbook example of how this power [Schedule 7] is routinely abused, and how police often act on their prejudices to harass Muslim travellers,” a spokesperson from the group said.
“There’s so little recourse to justice with this power, that we have demanded its repeal entirely.”
Begum is a common name in the Bangladeshi diaspora and the single most common surname in the Tower Hamlets and south Camden areas in London.
Ms Begum’s complaint was not upheld by the police staff who claim that the stop was justified and handled properly, she has now lodged an appeal against the decision.
Shamima Begum was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey and into territory controlled by Isis in 2015, before her citizenship was revoked in February 2019.
She remains in a camp controlled by armed guards in northern Syria and has been locked in a legal battle ever since and in January the 23-year-old lost her latest challenge against the decision to strip her of her British citizenship on national security grounds.
A spokesperson for GMP’s Professional Standards Branch said: “Upon receipt of a complaint, our assessment team reviewed the circumstances and identified that the use of Schedule 7 was reasonable and proportionate.
“We are, however, aware of an appeal against the outcome of this review so we will not be commenting any further at this time.
“Schedule 7 remains a vital piece of legislation to protect the UK Borders and is subject to review by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation to ensure it is used effectively and fairly.”
