Shamima Begum could soon be freed from a prison camp in Syria as tensions grow between Kurdish fighters and government forces.
Begum, 26, has been inside the prison for years after being stripped of her citizenship in 2019.
She travelled from east London to Syria as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join Islamic State (IS), marrying a 27-year-old Dutch national.
The former Brit has since said she was ‘ashamed’ to have joined the group, regretting her decision deeply.
But after spending years inside the Syrian prison, she could be free as clashes between the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US, and government forces increase.
There has been intense fighting outside of al-Roj detention camp, where Shamima lives, with speculation that those inside could be freed.
Western officials have described the prisoners as a ‘terror army’ in waiting, with concerns about where they will go if freed.
Inside the prison walls, thousands of ISIS soldiers and tens of thousands of women and children are locked up.
This week, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said several of its fighters had been killed and more than a dozen wounded near the camps.
The SDF, the main US-backed force that fought IS in Syria, controls more than a dozen prisons in the north east where 9,000 IS members have been held for years without trial.
Many of the detained extremists are believed to have carried out atrocities in Syria and Iraq after IS declared a caliphate in June 2014 over large parts of the two countries.
Since joining ISIS, Begum gave birth to a few children – all of whom died young – and was pregnant when she was found living inside a camp after leaving the UK.
In 2021, she gave a tell-all interview where she said she was ‘groomed’ and ‘manipulated into coming’ to Syria.
She said at the time: ‘I am completely sorry for anyone who has been affected by ISIS, I in no way agree or try to justify what they did.
‘It’s not justifiable to kill innocent people in the name of religion. I just want to apologise. I am sorry.’
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