Shamima Begum was a 15-year-old girl who traveled to Syria and became an "ISIS bride". She was subsequently stripped of her citizenship by a politician as a form of extrajudicial punishment, despite being born English, and despite being a child when she made a decision she almost instantly regretted. Begum is a figure of hatred in Britain's tabloid newsrooms.
It turns out that her story, and this treatment by the press, is far more unsavory than was known: the BBC reports that she was in fact trafficked to Syria by a Canadian spy.
Shamima Begum, who fled the UK and joined the Islamic State group, was smuggled into Syria by an intelligence agent for Canada. Files seen by the BBC show he claimed to have shared Ms Begum's passport details with Canada, and smuggled other Britons to fight for IS. Ms Begum was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls – Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase – travelled to Syria to join the IS group in 2015. At the main Istanbul bus station, the girls met Mohammed Al Rasheed, who would facilitate their journey to IS-controlled Syria. A senior intelligence officer, at an agency which is part of the global coalition against IS, has confirmed to the BBC that Rasheed was providing information to Canadian intelligence while smuggling people to IS.
Begum, stateless, is being held in a detention camp in north-east Syria.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said intelligence services needed to be "flexible"
Flexible with a 15 year old girl.
The Times of London further reports that "Britain conspired with Canada to cover up role in girls' disappearance", citing a forthcoming book about Begum et al.
An inquiry was demanded last night as it emerged that Canada knew about the teenagers' fate but kept silent while the Metropolitan Police ran a frantic, international search for the trio. Canada privately admitted its involvement only when it feared being exposed, and then successfully asked the British to cover up its role, the book claimed.
