Shamima Begum could be hanged if she is sent to Bangladesh

Runaway Islamic State bride Shamima Begum could face the death penalty if she is sent to Bangladesh, the country’s foreign minister has said.

The teenager would face death by hanging for her involvement in terrorism, according to Abdul Momen.

Bangladesh has said it wants nothing to do with Shamima who cannot return to the UK after Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British nationality.

She is currently in a refugee camp in Syria after the collapse of the caliphate earlier this year.


The 19-year-old has said she was ‘brainwashed’ by extremists and ran away to join the death cult as a schoolgirl.



She fled her home in east London in 2015 with two friends and quickly married Dutch jihadi Yago Riedijk.

The couple’s three children all died.

All three of Shamima Begum’s children have died while she lived in Syria (Picture: ITV)

Under international law it is illegal to revoke someone’s citizenship if it leaves them stateless.

It was thought Ms Begum had a claim to Bangladeshi citizenship through her family, but Bangladeshi officials have denied this.

Speaking to ITV News, Dr Momen said: ‘We have nothing to do with Shamima Begum. She is not a Bangladeshi citizen.

‘She never applied for Bangladeshi citizenship. She was born in England and her mother is British.

‘If anyone is found to be involved with terrorism, we have a simple rule: there will be capital punishment. And nothing else.

‘She would be put in prison and immediately the rule is she should be hanged.’

Shamima fled her east London home to join the death cult and its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria (Picture: Reuters)

The issue of Shamima’s citizenship emerged after she declared she wanted to return to the UK.

She claimed to have been brainwashed by Isis although reports have emerged that she was a member of the feared ‘morality police’

Spy chiefs allegedly believe she was witnessed sewing vests onto suicide bombers so devices couldn’t be removed without detonation.

Shamima resurfaced in February this year heavily pregnant at the al-Hawl refugee camp.

She gave birth to son Jarrah but he died in March aged just three weeks old.

The UK government faced criticism in the wake of the child’s death, who was a British citizen regardless of his mother’s status.

But Mr Javid defended his decision to remove Shamima’s citizenship and said the Government could not assist British nationals in Syria as there is no consular presence there.

In March, it was reported that Ms Begum’s family have begun legal proceedings to challenge the Home Secretary’s move.

Shamima Begum’s husband, Yago Riedijk said he wants to return to Europe and live a ‘normal life’ (Picture: BBC)

Shamima’s husband is languishing in a Kurdish-run camp in Syria and wants to return back to Europe.

He faces a six-year jail term in the Netherlands for joining a terror organisation.

In an interview last month, he said he wants to go back home, serve his time in jail and then have ‘a normal life with my wife, with no troubles, no wars and no poverty.’

The Dutch government has previously said it would not allow Shamima into the country with her jihadi husband.



Around 900 male and female extremists went from the UK to fight for Isis.

Of those, around 200 are believed to have been killed while another 360 have already returned home.

Anti-terror police say as many as 200 jihadists who are alive would pose a significant threat to security if they were ever to return.

The UK Government said it would not comment on the individual case of Shamima.

But it added that decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on ‘all available evidence’ and are ‘not taken lightly’.