UK woman who fled to Syria with her toddler son to join ISIS regrets taking 'wrong path'

A British woman who was found guilty of taking her toddler son to join Islamic State in Syria now claims that she regrets taking “wrong path”. Tareena Shakil in 2014 h fled to Middle East with her n one-year-old son. In 2016, she was convicted of being a member of ISIS and encouraging acts of terrorism after she returned to Britain. 

Previously, Shakil h said that she told her family she was taking her son on a Turkish beach holiday. However, she used her student loan to fund trip and crossed border into Syria and heed for Raqqa, a stronghold of ISIS in Syria. During her trial, Shakil h denied terrorism charges and claimed that she only travelled to Syria because she wanted to live under strict Islamic law. But photos on her phone showed her wearing an ISIS balaclava and posing with an AK-47. 

Now, in her first interview since being released in 2018, Shakil said that she regrets taking “wrong path”. In a televised ITV’s Exposure programme, 31-year-old said that that was someone who just “lost her way in life, found a very wrong path,” when confronted with AK-47 picture. Shakil mitted to knowing of Islamic State atrocities before she left for Syria. 

She said, “I was aware of violence that h taken place at hands of ISIS. I can't lie and say that I didn't because it was everywhere.”

“Being aware of horrific things that were happening in that place and still deciding to run away, not just on your own, with your child – I understand that is hard for people to understand. And to just say you didn't pay much attention to it, but that's what it was – I just, I didn't,” she ded. 

'I was far from best version of myself'

Furr, Shakil went on to say that her decision to take her toddler son to join a terrorist organisation is not something she is happy about. However, she ded that “at time only thing I can say is that I was far from best version of myself”. It is to mention that Shakil, who remains only woman in Britain to have been imprisoned for joining ISIS, now lives in Birmingham, UK. She has served less than half of her six-year sentence and has undergone a dericalisation programme as well. 

During her 2016 trial, Judge Melbourne Inman h said that Shakil h “embraced” Islamic State group and was “willing to become a martyr”. It was also believed that she wed an IS fighter in Syria, however, marriage h quickly turned sour. When asked what she thinks of ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who has been stripped of British citizenship and languishes in a Syrian camp, Shakil said, “I can't say, Don't bring m back – that makes me a hypocrite because I've been in a very similar situation.”

“It's not same situation because I escaped. re may be reasons se people didn't escape. It's not easy to escape from re – it's life and death, not everybody has it in m,” she ded. 

(Image: Twitter)