Shamima Begum has been pictured for the first time in years from her new home in exile, with the British-born ISIS bride appearing “pale and thin”
07:24, 22 Sep 2025Updated 08:26, 22 Sep 2025
Shamima Begum(Image: Tim Merry/Reach)
Shamima Begum, the British-born ISIS bride, has been seen for the first time in years, appearing “pale and thin” from her new home in exile.
The former Londoner, who was born and raised in Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, joined the terror organisation in Syria at the age of 15 in 2015. Just 10 days later, she became a child bride to a Dutch Islamic convert.
In 2019, the Conservative government disavowed her, rendering her stateless, and since then has since tried desperately to return to her family in the UK.
Now aged 26, she has made her first appearance in years during a brief interview with the Daily Express at the al-Roj detention camp in Syria. Despite her face being covered, journalists noted that she appeared pale and thin.
Reporters from the Express described how she entered the room where they were set to speak, her face concealed by a surgical mask.
Although most of her face was hidden, they observed that “her eyes were somewhat sunken, and she seemed pale, as well as very thin”, reports the Mirror.
Ms Begum travelled to Syria in 2015
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This interview marks her first public appearance in years, with the stateless 26 year old last seen in a contentious BBC documentary aired in 2023.
She wasn’t the only detention camp resident to walk into the interview room, having arrived alongside American Hoda Muthana, who fled to Syria to join ISIS in 2014, but surrendered to the new coalition in 2019.
The pair departed almost immediately after their arrival, the Express reported, choosing not to respond to questions before quickly leaving after Ms Begum stated: “We don’t have anything to say.”
Shamima Begum has appeared for the first time in two years
Ms Begum is trying to return to the UK, with her legal team working to present a case to the European Court of Human Rights after exhausting all domestic legal options when the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal in August 2024.
The justices determined the decision would rest with the court in their judgment, noting it would need to establish whether the procedure to strip her of her British citizenship ought to have taken into account that she might have been a victim of trafficking.
Ms Begum is staying at the al-Roj detention camp(Image: Getty Images)
Her legal representatives argued the UK had failed to step in and secure the repatriation “of their citizens and their children” who have been “arbitrarily imprisoned”.
They said: “It is a matter of the gravest concern that British women and children have been arbitrarily imprisoned in a Syrian camp for five years, all detained indefinitely without any prospect of a trial. All other countries in the UK’s position have intervened and achieved the return of their citizens and their children.”
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