General

Isis ‘jihadi brides’ trying to radicalise girls and encourage UK terror attacks online as they remain trapped in Syria

August 13, 2016

At least one British girl, Kadiza Sultana, is believed to have been killed in air strikes

Lured by the false promise of an Islamic utopia and an adoring husband, scores of British women and girls fled to join Isis, but as military operations against the group intensify they are now trapped with “zero chance” of escaping alive. At least one British recruit, 17-year-old Kadiza Sultana, is understood to have been killed in air strikes and the outlook for her two friends is bleak as Isis’ enemies advance on its ever-diminishing territories in Syria.

Her family said she quickly became disillusioned with life under the so-called Islamic State after arriving with Amira Abase and Shamima Begum early last year. The three friends fled from their homes in east London in the Easter holidays, sparking an international police search and emotional appeals from their families for them to return home.

But the trio swiftly reached Isis’ de-facto capital of Raqqa and were married to militants to take the role of dutiful wives and mothers proscribed by the group’s ideology. They were just three among at least 56 young women and girls known to have travelled from the UK to join Isis in Syria in 2015 alone.
Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, America Abase, 15, schoolgirls at Bethnal Green Academy in east London, fled to Syria in 2015 (Metropolitan Police/EPA)
Tasnime Akunjee, a solicitor for all three families, told The Independent Shamima and Amira were still alive. He told how Kadiza had become desperate to escape the group by late last year, discussing plans with her family but giving up hope when an Austrian jihadi bride was publicly beaten to death after being caught trying to flee. 

“I don’t have a good feeling, I feel scared,” she told her sister in a phone call in November. “How am I going to get out?” Less than five months later she was reportedly killed in a Russian air strike.  

“For me personally the hope is that if there is anything that can be salvaged from this tragic situation it is that people will take it as a warning,” Mr Akunjee said. “Unfortunately we are in this Playstation generation where people play war games and don’t take it seriously. But Syria is a war zone and people do get killed – my advice to anyone still out there would be to get out as fast as you can.”

But experts warn that it is almost impossible for women to leave Isis, with its interpretation of Sharia law meaning they cannot leave the house without a male guardian. While Turkey has closed its border along Isis territory, the terrorist group itself has launched a brutal crackdown on defectors, publicly executing anyone accused of trying to flee or attempting to smuggle people away.

For Western female jihadis, Syria is one-way journey
Sara Khan, the co-founder of the counter-extremism Inspire group, told The Independent the chance of jihadi brides returning to the UK was “zero” once they are inside the group’s territory. “They quickly become disillusioned and realise that it’s not the utopia that it’s made out to be,” she added. “The reality is that for women and girls it’s incredibly difficult to leave Isis because of the control the group exerts on their movements.”

The role of women is strictly limited to that of mother and wife, with occasional exceptions for designated tasks as Sharia police and nurses. They are immediately married off to Isis fighters, being handed to a new husband upon the first’s death if they are lucky, or passed around as a “sexual present” if not. Clothing infractions are met with flogging, a lack of “meekness” with beating, alleged adultery or blasphemy with death.

Nikita Malik, a senior researcher from the Quilliam Foundation, told The Independent the violent reality is far from the rosy depiction given by Isis propaganda. Dabiq, Isis’ English language propaganda magazine, has contained several articles addressed to “our sisters” presenting life in its territories as a warped feminist ideal for Muslim woman free of the pressures of Western conformity.