LONDON: A British woman who joined Daesh and was later imprisoned for terror offenses has said she regrets joining the terrorist group and bringing her young son to Syria.
Tareena Shakil, who is known in Britain for her love of reality TV, traveled to Syria via Turkey in 2014 to join Daesh.
She returned to Britain a year later but was arrested immediately at Heathrow Airport and jailed for joining the group. Shakil remains the only woman to have been imprisoned by the UK for joining Daesh.
She had originally told her family that she was traveling to Turkey for a holiday with her son, but crossed into Syria.
Now released from jail after serving less than half of her six-year sentence, Shakil, 31, told ITV: “If I could go back I would have come back.”
She admitted that she understood the nature of Daesh before joining. “I was aware of violence that had taken place at the hands of Isis (Daesh). I can’t lie and say that I didn’t because it was everywhere,” she said.
“Being aware of horrific things that were happening in that place and still deciding to run away, not just on your own, with your child — I understand that is hard for people to understand. And to just say you didn’t pay much attention to it, but that’s what it was — I just, I didn’t.”
While in Syria, Shakil was pictured holding an AK-74 rifle, and she frequently posted on Twitter to call on people to take up arms alongside Daesh.
In one post, she said: “If people don’t like the current events in Sham (Syria) take to arms and not the keyboard.”
She told ITV: “It’s not something that I’m happy about now looking back, but at the time the only thing I can say is that I was far from the best version of myself.”
The issue of Daesh returnees is a hot-button issue in the UK, as high-profile recruits such as Shamima Begum continue to lobby the government and public to allow their return.
Some argue that leaving them in Kurdish-administered camps in Syria represents a long-term security threat to Britain, while the government has remained steadfast in its view that it will not bring home Daesh recruits if it can help it, citing the immediate security of the public.
Speaking on the issue of Daesh returnees, Shakil said: “I can’t say: ‘Don’t bring them back’ — that makes me a hypocrite because I’ve been in a very similar situation.
“It’s not the same situation because I escaped. There may be reasons these people didn’t escape. It’s not easy to escape from there — it’s life and death, not everybody has it in them.”
