Viewers have vowed to cancel their television licences as they slammed last night’s ‘sickening’ 90-minute Shamima Begum documentary on the BBC.
The programme aired on the back of the corporation’s 10-part podcast that ‘retraces’ the journey she took eight years ago from her home in east London to Syria, where she joined the terrorist group Islamic State.
Begum, now 23, has made several highly publicised attempts to return to the UK and restore her reputation after the Home Secretary stripped her of her British citizenship in 2019.
But critics say the BBC has been ‘parading her as if she is some sort of celebrity’ for views. Viewers of The Shamima Begum Story last night accused the broadcaster of presenting the jihadi bride as a ‘vulnerable young girl’ with ‘beautifully staged, moody shots, ominous back track and tearful pieces to camera’.
She is now living in a refugee camp in northern Syria, which she described as ‘worse than a prison’. She said: ‘I hate myself inside… At least with prison sentences you know there’s going to be an end. But here, you don’t know if there’s going to be an end.’
Viewers have vowed to cancel their TV licences as they slammed last night’s ‘sickening’ 90-minute Shamima Begum documentary
Begum has made several highly publicised bids to return to the UK and restore her reputation, but critics say the broadcaster has been ‘parading her as if she is some sort of celebrity’ for views
‘Sickened to have watched the BBC’s airing of ”The Shamima Begum Story”,’ one critic said.
Another said: ‘Please tell me why the BBC are giving Shamima Begum the time of day? That girl has zero remorse and I don’t know why I have to see her on my TV? She had a choice – she made her choice. Vile.’
And the broadcaster was inundated with disappointed customers promising they would not renew their licence, the £159 annual fee viewers must pay to watch BBC programmes.
One said: ‘I won’t be renewing my licence, it’s taking the p**s.’
Another said: ‘What is happening with the BBC? Are you kidding me? Won’t ever pay my TV licence again… She’s a terrorist with no remorse, she doesn’t deserve to have her story heard like she is a victim.’
Begum travelled to Syria when she was 15 with two school friends from Bethnal Green, east London, in February 2015. Kadiza Sultana, who was also 15, and Amira Abase, 16, are believed to have been killed there.
While she now wants to return to the UK and has disavowed the terror group, Begum admitted it was ‘exciting’ to travel to Syria. She said she was ‘in love’ with ISIS and desperate to join.
‘Disgusting and utterly disgraceful,’ one critic said on Tuesday night after the documentary aired.
‘Why are the BBC giving Shamima Begum, a terrorist by association, airtime on our TVs?’
Viewers accused the BBC of presenting Begum as a ‘vulnerable young girl’ in the programme, with ‘beautifully staged, moody shots, ominous back track and tearful pieces to camera’
The BBC has released a 10-part podcast about Shamima Begum in which she tells the story of how she joined ISIS
In 2015, Begum (centre), then 15, and her school friends Kadiza Sultana (left), also 15, and Amira Abase (right), 16, fled their east London homes to join Islamic State. Her two companions are believed to have died there
The BBC faced similar backlash following the announcement of a 10-part podcast.
The broadcaster said the BBC Sounds series would provide Begum’s ‘full account’ of ‘what really happened’ when she became a jihadi bride.
It insisted her story would not be ‘unchallenged’, describing the podcast as a ‘robust, public interest investigation’ by a journalist who has been talking to Begum for a year.
Begum was found by journalists in a refugee camp in 2019 and soon after the UK withdrew her citizenship and banned her from entering Britain.
She now lives at the Al-Roj camp in northern Syria, run by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
She told the BBC investigation that being stuck in a camp ‘is, I feel, worse than a prison I think because at least with prison sentences you know that there will be an end but here you don’t know if there’s going to be an end’.
Begum told the BBC she accepts she joined a terror group, but on the topic of public anger aimed at her says: ‘I don’t think it’s actually towards me. I think it’s towards ISIS.
‘When they think of ISIS they think of me because I’ve been put on the media so much but what was there to obsess over?
‘We went to ISIS, that was it. It was over, it was over and done with.’
In the podcast the 23-year-old claims that the refugee camp in Syria where she lives is ‘worse than a prison’
Begum also explains her journey to Syria, and how she was given detailed instructions by ISIS members.
But she also researched information herself including looking for IS members online to help her and her friends plan their journey.
The teenagers hid their luggage in advance and planned for scenarios such as being quizzed or caught out. She said: ‘There were people online… advising us on what to do and what not to do.
‘Just like how to get the money to buy the tickets, where to buy the tickets, which airport to go to, what to bring, what to wear, when you’re going to the airport, who to talk to, who not to talk to, what excuse to make if you do get caught.’
The BBC said the podcast is not an opportunity for Begum to tell her story unchallenged but is a ‘robust public interest investigation’
When asked how she decided what items to take, Begum says: ‘It’s the same as when you go on vacation, you’re just [thinking] what do I need for a vacation, it’s pretty basic items.’
‘I don’t know, people used to say… pack nice clothes so you can dress nicely for your husband.’
She also packed items she knew she wouldn’t find in Syria, including mint chocolate: ‘I took candy. I just like bought candies that I knew I wouldn’t find in Syria. Mint Aero, mint chocolate, like a lot. You can find a lot of things in this country but you cannot find mint chocolate. It’s a tragedy.’
Asked about how she felt about potentially never returning to the UK, she said: ‘Really at that time, I just was not thinking, my mind was like completely blank but I guess yes, I thought this is the last time I’m going to see the UK. I mean in a way I felt kind of relieved.’
