Shamima Begum Says The ‘Government Is Struggling With Terrorism’

Shamima Begum has claimed the UK government is ‘struggling’ with terrorism as she continues her fight to return to the UK. 

The 22-year-old made the comment during an interview with ITV‘s Good Morning Britain today, September 15, as she expressed her beliefs over why she should be allowed to return to the country in which she was born.

As part of her efforts to be granted permission to enter the UK, Begum today directly addressed Prime Minister Boris Johnson and claimed the government is ‘clearly struggling with extremism and terrorism’ in the UK.

Begum expressed her hopes that the British public could consider her ‘as an asset rather than a threat’, telling ITV that she believes she could help the government by detailing her experience with ISIS and discussing how extremists ‘persuade people to do what they do and to come to places like Syria.’

The 22-year-old claimed that the only crime she committed was ‘being dumb enough to come to ISIS’, though Sajid Javid, who was Home Secretary when he made the decision to revoke Begum’s British citizenship, has stood by the decision.

Javid, who is now Health Secretary, said that while he did not want to get into the details of the case, the decision was not one he made lightly, and one that was based on the advice of his department at the time as well as intelligence agencies.