Shamima Begum is hardly an ideal poster girl for liberal values. According to a newspaper interview, and with no attempt to sensationalise, she appears to be still sympathetic to the so-called Islamic State “caliphate”, expresses little if any remorse about her activities, and, as far the media is concerned, expresses the opinion that journalists can be “enemies of the caliphate”.

In the four years since she and two other school friends took the opportunity of a half-term break to make the journey from Bethnal Green to join a medieval death cult in the Middle East, much has happened to them. One apparently died in a bombing, and the whereabouts of the other is unknown. Ms Begum got married, lost two children to malnutrition and disease. Her first sight of a severed head in a bin, she says, “didn’t faze me at all”.

Now she has been discovered in a refugee camp in Syria, heavily pregnant, her partner, a Dutch national, not in attendance. She is weary and wishes to come home, but seemingly only because the war is over.

The caliphate, she thinks, suffered from too much oppression and corruption. “I don’t think they deserved victory,” she said. But she didn’t seem to mind so much that Isis sawed the heads off journalists or aid volunteers with kitchen knives.

In her own words: “I’m not the same silly little 15-year old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don’t regret coming here.”

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the city’s entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Her main interest in returning herself to Britain seems to be the collapse of her home with Isis and subsequent concerns about the welfare of her about-to-be-born baby. If, in other words, Isis still controlled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria she’d have been content to stay put, perhaps.

Aside from her own account, we cannot know what, precisely, Ms Begum has been engaged in for the past few years. She may have committed crimes. That should be a matter for official investigation in advance of her returning to Britain, which may well happen sooner or later, even if the British authorities make no attempt to “rescue” or arrest her (as they need not).

If and when she does turn up she may then be questioned and, if justified, charged and sent for trial. It is how this country deals with people, no matter what their reputation, or even what they themselves have said; they have a right to justice and a fair trial.

During that process, if it comes to pass, we will discover much more objective truth about whether, for example, Ms Begum is more victim than perpetrator; the extent to which she was “groomed” or “brainwashed” either before or after her arrival in Syria. There has been a good deal of speculation about that, but little properly examined evidence.

Thus, despite everything, Shamima Begum remains a British citizen, and not enough is known to justify her being summarily deprived of her citizenship. A better path could be to impose a temporary exclusion order, under which she would not be able to return to Britain until she has agreed to an investigation, monitoring and, if required, deradicalisation.

That might still leave the question of the fate of her child, and its nationality, having been born in Syria of British and Dutch parents. Indeed the upbringing of that baby may prove the most morally challenging task of all.

Whatever her past, or her immediate fate, Shamima Begum is destined to be the subject of intense media scrutiny, to put it mildly, for the rest of her life. Indeed, such is the atmosphere, she could not be guaranteed safety from vigilantes – or far-right terrorists – in most circumstances without a new identity or police protection, possibly combined with surveillance, depending on how her life evolves.

If her story reminds us of anything, it is how difficult it is to legislate for those returning from the wars in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, with often confused identities and, sometimes, evil intent.

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Each case is different, every circumstance unique. The only solution is to consider each one dispassionately. That is what the criminal justice system is for, and declaring someone guilty of unspecified crimes or rendering them stateless without due process is not only a violation of the human rights we in the west are supposed to uphold, but risks pushing that individual into a world of terror and murder.