LONDON: Shamima Begum’s best friend, whom she claims inspired her to join Daesh, was tracked down by the BBC after escaping from a Syrian detention camp.
Sharmeena Begum, no relation, was Shamima Begum’s schoolmate in Bethnal Green, east London. In December 2014, she fled to join Daesh in Syria, with Shamima and two other friends following her two months later.
The BBC tracked Sharmeena down after she escaped from Camp Hol prison for women who were with Daesh and their children.
A journalist from the “Shamima Begum Story” podcast, posing as a sympathizer, contacted Sharmeena online after receiving a tip-off about a social media account she was using.
In her exchanges with the BBC, Sharmeena ridiculed Shamima as a failure and a non-believer, claiming she had tainted the reputation of the women who had joined Daesh.
Sharmeena also said her former friend was “just another individual, living off the benefits” who did not contribute at all.
Sharmeena, still in Syria, is in hiding and going by a different identity.
A former Daesh member told the BBC that she is fanatical even according to the extremist group’s standards.
When asked if she regretted joining Daesh, Sharmeena dodged the question, saying only that she did not want to return to the UK and be sent to prison.
The BBC also discovered Sharmeena illegally fundraising for Daesh members while in hiding. She has been posting about detention camp conditions on social media while appealing for cryptocurrencies.
Although it is unclear how much money she has raised in total, one account revealed 29 transactions totaling $3,000.
The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces who guards detainees at Camp Hol expressed concern that money like this is assisting Daesh in regrouping, purchasing weapons, and planning escapes and attacks.
“If we...look at the camps, there are little children who are a few years old and are being raised on the ideology of how to kill,” Gen. Newroz Ahmed told the BBC, saying that her people are among those being targeted and killed.
Camp Hol hosts over 65,000 people of 57 different nationalities. Guards say they have discovered grenades, guns and explosive belts smuggled in and that 50 people have been murdered there over the last six months, the BBC reported.
For her part, Shamima said Sharmeena played a big role in influencing her to run away to Syria to join the extremist “caliphate.”
Shamima told the BBC: “I was being manipulated into thinking this was the right thing to do and I was being manipulated with lies about where I would be going and what I would be doing.
“I mean, in my opinion, even though Sharmeena probably is still radical, I will say she was also a victim of (Daesh),” she added.
