The newborn son of exiled ISIS bride Shamima Begum has died, the family’s lawyer said on Friday, Euronews reports.
In a series of tweets, lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said he had received “strong but unconfirmed reports” of the boy’s death on Friday afternoon, and later confirmed the reports were true.
I hope this is not true @MohammedAkunjee https://t.co/eAsMBA8CFT
— yvonne ridley (@yvonneridley) March 8, 2019
Begum left London with her two school friends in 2015 to join the so-called Islamic State in Syria, where she has lived with her husband, a Dutch IS fighter, for the last few years.
She returned to the media spotlight last month after taking part in an interview with The Times from Syria’s al-Hawl refugee camp, saying she wanted to return to the UK.
A then-heavily pregnant Begum told The Times she was concerned for the safety of her unborn child as she had already lost two children during her 4 years with the militant group.
When she gave birth to her son just a few days later, her comments had already sparked a huge debate on whether she and her child should be repatriated.
Akunjee has argued that Begum should be treated as a victim, while the British government was less sympathetic, later stripping her of her British citizenship.
Euronews has contacted the family lawyer and officials for more information.