Tuesday, 26 Nov 2024

ISIS matchmaker ‘who lured Shamima Begum to Syria’ begs to be let back to UK

An ISIS "matchmaker" who reportedly lured Shamima Begum to Syria has apologised for her actions and begged the British people to allow her to return to the UK.

Mother-of-two Tooba Gondal, 25, joined ISIS fighters in Raqqa during 2015 after travelling from her home in Walthamstow, east London.

In shocking videos shared online Gondal glorified ISIS attacks, called Britain a "filthy country" and praised the 2015 terror attack on a Paris theatre.

She turned up in the Ain Issa camp, in northern Syria, with her two children Asiya and Ibrahim in April after being handed over to western-backed Kurdish forces.

She said she was trying to escape from ISIS-held Baghuz when she was stopped at the Turkish border.

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Her dad confirmed she was banned from re-entering the UK after being slapped with a Home Office exclusion order last November.

In an open letter to the public she has now called on the Government to allow her to return with her children.

In the letter, which was published by the Sunday Times, she said: "I desperately wish for the British government to take us back. I want to prove that I am a changed person; a much better individual for society.

  • ISIS matchmaker 'who lured Shamima Begum to Syria' begs to be let back to UK

"I want to face justice in a British court. I wish to redeem myself. I would like Britain to accept my apology and to give me another chance."

Gondal's son has a son called Ibrahim whose father was killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq and was from the UK.

Because of his father's nationality Ibrahim is entitled to British citizenship.

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Gondal has been accused of being a "matchmaker" for ISIS and luring young women to Syria, with Shamima Begum, who is from Bethnal Green, East London, thought to be one of her recruits.

Gondal has said she now hates ISIS and insists she was "manipulated and persuaded" as an "obligation as a Muslim to travel to Syria".

She wrote: "I was a vulnerable target to Isis recruiters. I was manipulated and persuaded that it was an obligation as a Muslim to travel to Syria.

"I never became a member of Isis. I was forced at many stages to marry and I can't say how many times I tried to escape. I wanted to leave from the start, but it became impossible. These criminals threatened to kill my babies."

The mum-of-two has also offered to help "prevent vulnerable Muslims from being targeted and radicalised" if she was permitted to return.

She said her children are "completely innocent" but admits she must be held "to account" for travelling to Syria.

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