Islamic State mother Tareena Shakil regrets everything about Syria journey

A woman convicted of travelling to Syria to join the Islamic State group says she “regrets everything” about it.

Tareena Shakil, from Birmingham, was jailed in 2016 when she returned to the UK after three months with IS.

The 32-year-old said she was “ashamed” of her actions and “lives with the consequences every day”.

Now released from prison, Ms Shakil has completed a de-radicalisation programme and hopes her story will serve as a warning to others.

Ms Shakil, a former healthcare worker, secretly travelled to Syria with her one-year-old son in 2014, and lived in a house with other women waiting to be married to foreign fighters.

“Conversations were often listened to and you were generally expected to behave in a certain way,” she told the BBC. “You know, you don’t cause any trouble.

“There were two girls who didn’t act that way, who would just act up.

“I can’t even really give an example, they were just unruly and a van came, men came off the van and took them girls away, and we never saw them again.”

During her trial, Ms Shakil was found to have encouraged acts of terrorism with posts on social media.

“I regret every last thing in terms of my decision to run away to Syria with my child,” she said. “I live with them consequences every day.”

After less than three months, Ms Shakil fled into Turkey and returned to the UK, where she went on to be arrested, tried, and jailed for six years.

She said de-radicalisation had been “a long journey” and now hopes her case can serve as a warning about the dangers of extremism.

“I remember feeling really sad, really bitter, really taken advantage of and duped,” she said.

“I remember feeling really ashamed of myself to some degree that I allowed it to happen.”

Source: BBC News