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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Shamima Begum cannot return.....

999 replies

Lillylolo · 26/02/2021 20:40

What are your opinions?

I feel that her dual heritage has been used against her, to push her towards Bangladesh.

However, I do feel she is a threat to the general public and it would be incredibly difficult to control/monitor her actions. Which may put the rest of the population at risk.

This is just an open debate. Let’s try not to rip each other apart, more of a healthy debate

OP posts:
SimonJT · 26/02/2021 21:13

@Dannydevitoiloveyourart I feel similar, it is also why as soon as I gained British citizenship I gave up my other citizenship, especially as that country doesn’t allow you to regain it.

She was a child who was groomed, it can take years and years of intensive therapy for a victim of grooming to fully understand that they were groomed, that it was wrong etc. She is no different.

Orchidflower1 · 26/02/2021 21:13

@Alwaysandforeverhere

I think if she was allowed to return she should be locked up and as that wouldn’t happen she shouldn’t be allowed to return. She made her bed.
This exactly.
Sumwin1 · 26/02/2021 21:14

@Dannydevitoiloveyourart your right. There was a documentary on black British people that had difficulties and they were born here in UK it was terrible a mother and daughter living in a tiny hotel room.

heatherhoneys · 26/02/2021 21:14

@FuckyouCovid21

If she does get to come back, think of how much money it'll cost to keep her safe
Keeping her safe is a lesser concern than keeping other people safe given her extremist views and support for terrorist offences.
WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo · 26/02/2021 21:14

@ChristOnAPeloton

I think she’s our problem, and we shouldn’t be dumping her on Syria or Bangladesh to deal with.
This. If it were reversed, and she was Syrian but living here people would be very vocal that she should be sent home!
SpaceRaiders · 26/02/2021 21:15

That could open up a very dangerous precident

But effectively leaving a person stateless isn’t?Hmm

Curious where all the dangerous, “home grown” radicalised, terrorist supporting people are sent?

Let’s not lie to ourselves ideas around “sending her back” “we don’t want her back” etc is rooted in xenophobic rhetoric. She’s no less British than you or I.

GabsAlot · 26/02/2021 21:15

even if she was groomed she doesnt regret beheadings and bombings as she says so herself so she can stay there

MiddlesexGirl · 26/02/2021 21:16

She was 15 at the time.
She is British.
On those two grounds together I believe she should be returned to Britain and stand trial here.

Chloemol · 26/02/2021 21:18

She is entitled to citizenship elsewhere, that’s why her British citizenship was revoked. She doesn’t want to use her other citizenship as they have made it clear what would happen, ie she would be treated as a terrorist

She made a very clear decision when she was 15, and she fully understood what she was doing. She has also made it very clear she is not sorry for what has happened here at the hands of isis, in fact she sees no problem with what they did, she has shown no remorse at all, and tbh I wouldn’t believe her if she did

She can stay where she is, she made her bed, she can lie on it

Her husband is Dutch, she can go home to his family

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/02/2021 21:18

She should be dealt with via our legal system just as any other 15 year old british citizen would be.

HavelockVetinari · 26/02/2021 21:18

She was just a child when she was groomed. She has lost 3 children.

She might be dangerous, but so are many British criminals. Surely there's a way to bring her home, given that she is a victim of child abuse and grooming.

I know the home sec needs to consider the deterrent factor, but in this case I feel clemency should be shown.

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 26/02/2021 21:18

She’s a UK citizen. She’s not a Bangladeshi citizen.As UK citizen she’s our responsibility
She has a UK passport,She travelled on her sister UK passport
As repugnant as her acts were she’s British, and as a liberal democracy we need to provide her legal counsel and support to prepare for trial in UK

SimonJT · 26/02/2021 21:20

@GabsAlot

even if she was groomed she doesnt regret beheadings and bombings as she says so herself so she can stay there
Victims of grooming often require years of intensive support to even realise they have been groomed.

Children who are groomed for sex often become the very adults who groom other children for sex. Children who are groomed for sex will often deny they were groomed, coerced etc when they are adults. Children who are groomed for county lines will likely go on to groom other children, children who are rescued from this don’t think they are under control etc because that is exactly how grooming works, it is designed to trap you for life.

It is incredibly difficult to support victims of grooming, we also have to remember that any vulnerable person could one day be a victim of grooming.

Sumwin1 · 26/02/2021 21:21

@GabsAlot

even if she was groomed she doesnt regret beheadings and bombings as she says so herself so she can stay there
It’s a difficult situation but at the time she should of been forced back!! She was 15 it should not of been upto her to decide.

Imagine if we all over stayed in Spain or is that allowed... because it fits your narrative.

Speakeasy22 · 26/02/2021 21:22

Was she really 'groomed' or did she knowingly make her own decisions? Just because she was young, I don't think you can deny that she made her own decisions and followed through. Her initial interview seemed to show that she had no regrets or empathy. I'm sure, now, that she will have been coached to say the right things if she ever gets the chance. I find it very very had to have any sympathy for her.

SpaceRaiders · 26/02/2021 21:23

She made a very clear decision when she was 15

She was a 15 year old groomed, radicalised CHILD.

HavelockVetinari · 26/02/2021 21:23

She made a very clear decision when she was 15, and she fully understood what she was doing.

What a vile thing to say - using that logic, several victims of the Rochdale grooming gang were fully complicit whores?! Angry

15 years old is incredibly far from adulthood. Shamima perhaps isn't the brightest of girls, but she was manipulated and abused. Just because she doesn't recognise that fact doesn't mean it's not true.

Poor bairn, and poor wee babies that she lost.Sad

SimonJT · 26/02/2021 21:23

@HavelockVetinari

She made a very clear decision when she was 15, and she fully understood what she was doing.

What a vile thing to say - using that logic, several victims of the Rochdale grooming gang were fully complicit whores?! Angry

15 years old is incredibly far from adulthood. Shamima perhaps isn't the brightest of girls, but she was manipulated and abused. Just because she doesn't recognise that fact doesn't mean it's not true.

Poor bairn, and poor wee babies that she lost.Sad

Sadly there are a great number of people who think people who are groomed for sex are ‘asking for it’.
Souther · 26/02/2021 21:24

@Dannydevitoiloveyourart I agree.
She lost her citizenship on a load of BS. She is not Bangladeshi she has never even been to the country.
In the end she will have her citizenship back because she was wrongly stripped of it.
She needs to face justice for what shes done. But it doesn't change the fact she is British.
I mean I'm not sure
But has any other person who is not of dual citizenship ever been stripped of their British citizenship due to crimes here or abroad. Or is this a first?

Savethewhales · 26/02/2021 21:25

Those that say it's OK for her to come back, tell us who don't want her back, would you want her living next door to you or your children?

addicted2spaniels · 26/02/2021 21:26

The Supreme Court were in full possession of all the facts.

I'd say they were best qualified to make this decision.

Iamuhtredsonofuhtred · 26/02/2021 21:27

@Dannydevitoiloveyourart Completely agree- this is setting a dangerous precedent for 2nd tier British citizens just because they are not white British. This would never happen to a white British person. They have effectively made her stateless as Bangladesh (a country she's never even visited) won't recognise her as a citizen.

I think she's an unsympathetic character. But she was not at an age she could even legally consent to sex, let alone join a terrorist organisation.

Souther · 26/02/2021 21:27

@Speakeasy22

Was she really 'groomed' or did she knowingly make her own decisions? Just because she was young, I don't think you can deny that she made her own decisions and followed through. Her initial interview seemed to show that she had no regrets or empathy. I'm sure, now, that she will have been coached to say the right things if she ever gets the chance. I find it very very had to have any sympathy for her.
She was 15. A child.
Ellieboolou33 · 26/02/2021 21:27

It's definitely the right decision, for once the government have shown a backbone. Far too lenient in this country.

WhereDoMyBluebirdsFly · 26/02/2021 21:28

Dannydevitoiloveyourart

i really want to know how many white brits get stripped of their citizenship. If a white person born in Britain with no other nationality joined a terrorist organisation, would Britain would wash their hands of them?

I really do feel there’s an element of racism here. As a black Brit this case has basically taught me that despite being born and raised here and knowing little of my parents’ culture, I am only borrowing a British passport. I think this is the case for any brown British citizen and don’t believe this would have happened to a white British citizen.

Agree 100%.

She was a 15 year old child who was groomed. She was born, raised and educated in the UK, and has never held the citizenship of any other country. Just because she could claim Bangladeshi citizenship on a technicality does not absolve the UK government of taking responsibility for its citizens. Plus Bangladesh are refusing to accept her so she has been made stateless.

Stripping her of her citizenship sets a horrifying precedent.