Marriage, migration and the life – Young women leaving for Syria
When Amira Abase, Shamima Begum, and Kadiza Sultana left to Syria to join IS it made headlines in the UK. Were the girls groomed or should we not see them as victim but have more attention to their less innocent role, was the typical discussion that always ensues about women joining radical groups. The following two videos show the story of the father of one and a sister of another of these three girls.
Sister of Jihadi Bride Speaks Out (Extra Scene from ‘Groomed By The Islamic State’) | VICE News
In February 2015, three teenage schoolgirls left the comfort of their homes in East London and traveled to Syria to join the self-styled Islamic State. Around 60 women and girls are thought to have made the same journey from Britain.
The story of their disappearance dominated the UK press for weeks and the blame game inevitably began to hunt out whose fault it was. When the families of Amira Abase, Shamima Begum, and Kadiza Sultana found out that the police had been interviewing the trio about another girl from their school who had already joined IS, the case was picked up for investigation by the government. But soon certain sections of the press would turn on the families themselves.
VICE News gained intimate access to the father of one girl, Amira, and joined him as he dealt with the press and parliament to find out what it’s like for those left behind by the tragic choices of their loved ones.
In this extra scene, we talk to Renu, the sister of 15-year old Shamima. She tells us about the moment the family discovered Shamima had traveled to Turkey and why this was such a shock. The family’s lawyer also attends the meeting, to share some potentially relevant evidence with VICE News.
