Shamima Begum must not be allowed back into Britain under any circumstances, the father of a 7/7 bombings victim said today – amid fears the ISIS bride could exploit chaos at her Syrian detention camp to stage an escape.
Ms Begum, 26, who was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving London to join the terror group in 2015, is currently living in al-Roj – a filthy, violent camp in north-east Syria.
The facility is controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has now lost almost all of its territory in north-eastern Syria to an army loyal to the country’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
SDF soldiers have fled the nearby camp of al-Hol in face of the advancing forces, as residents – most of them women and many of them married to members of ISIS fighters – began rioting and staged an escape.
Video shared on social media showed dozens of women, all wearing black burqas, emerging from the camp after they knocked down the fencing.
The SDF also controls al-Roj, sparking fears that Ms Begum could also be able to leave detention.
Graham Foulkes, who lost his 22-year-old son, David, in the 7/7 London bombings, said he felt obliged to speak out after the ‘concerning’ developments, and urged the British Government to stay firm.
Graham Foulkes (left), who lost his 22-year-old son, David, (right) in the 7/7 London bombings, said he felt obliged to speak out after ‘concerning’ developments in Syria
Shamima Begum was stripped of her British citizenship after leaving London to join ISIS in 2015
‘I am very concerned and completely against her being allowed to come back into the UK,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘This matters to us because we know the pain that terrorism causes. We wouldn’t want anyone to go through that if she returns and carries out an attack.’
Ms Begum’s lawyers would have been encouraged by recent developments in her case, with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) calling for a new investigation into the Government’s decision to take away her British citizenship.
But Mr Foulkes insisted the decision had been correct.
‘Lawyers with security clearance would have examined the intelligence and been convinced there was sufficient evidence to take her passport off her,’ he said.
‘This is someone who devised a very clever, complicated plan to get out of the UK and go to join ISIS in Syria and convinced some of her friends to go with her.
‘She spent quite some time as part of ISIS – showing she wasn’t disillusioned at all.
‘It was only when ISIS fell when she realised she was in trouble that she began posing as this naive, vulnerable woman.
‘Throughout it all, she demonstrated sophisticated planning and an ability to persuade and deceive people.
‘She also admitted seeing people beheaded and was not phased by that. So clearly extreme violence doesn’t bother her.
‘When you take all that together, it suggests she is a very dangerous person. Why would we want someone like that in our country?’
The wives of Islamic State members broke out of Al-Hol detention camp in northeastern Syria on Tuesday
Video shared on social media showed dozens of women, all wearing black burqas, emerging from the camp after they knocked down the fencing
Members of Syrian security forces in their vehicle enter al-Hol on January 21, 2026
The 2005 London bombings saw three suicide bombers detonate devices on the London Underground before a fourth struck a bus in Tavistock Square, killing 52 people and injuring over 770 others.
David Foulkes, a media sales manager at the Guardian, was killed after he boarded a Tube train to Edgware Road.
His father Graham suggested there were ‘parallels’ between the ISIS bride and Mohammad Sidique Khan, the terrorist who coordinated the attack.
‘Like her, he was brought up and educated in this country but deceived everyone at home – family, friends, his mosque – then went to train with terrorists,’ he said.
‘So he has a similar profile [to Ms Begum].
‘The last thing on earth I want is any other family having someone close to them killed by someone with that profile.
Ms Begum, who married an ISIS fighter and had children, was found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019, and her citizenship was immediately revoked by then-home secretary Sajid Javid on national security grounds, kickstarting her lengthy legal challenge.
However, earlier this month, the ECHR formally requested that the Home Office clarify whether it had breached human rights and anti-trafficking laws – after Begum was stripped of her UK citizenship.
The latest intervention has sparked a major backlash, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowing to defend the Government’s decision at the time.
Conservative MP and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said he would ask Ms Mahmood for guarantees in the House of Commons that Begum will not be allowed back.
He also urged Ms Mahmood to fight the case ‘tooth and nail’.
Mr Philp called ISIS a ‘violent terrorist regime that brutally murdered their opponents and raped thousands of women and girls’.
File photo: People walk among shelters at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in 2021
Syrian government troops stand guard at the entrance to the al-Hol on January 21
Ms Begum lost an appeal in February 2023 against the decision to revoke her citizenship after the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled this was lawful.
She then lost a Court of Appeal bid in February 2024, before she was most recently denied the chance to challenge it at the Supreme Court in August 2024.
However, Ms Begum’s lawyers warned at the time that they could still take her case to the European Court of Human Rights – which they later did.
The Home Office has now been instructed by the European Court to answer four questions regarding her citizenship.
The unrest in northeast Syria comes as the national army and the SDF announced a new truce after Kurdish-led troops were forced to abandon the al-Hol prison camp.
The Kurdish-led group has now lost almost all of its territory to forces loyal to Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The two sides have been clashing for two weeks, amid a breakdown in negotiations over a deal to merge their forces.
At least 1,500 ISIS detainees reportedly escaped from Shaddadi prison camp on Monday, which was also controlled by the SDF.
Syria’s interior ministry has accused the SDF of allowing the release of ‘a number of detainees’ from ISIS, along with their wives and children.
Edgware Road Station shortly after the bombings on July 7, 2005
The SDF confirmed that its guards had withdrawn from the camp, but did not say whether any detainees escaped.
The group blamed ‘international indifference toward the issue of the (IS) terrorist organisation and the failure of the international community to assume its responsibilities in addressing this serious matter.’
It said its forces had redeployed in other areas ‘that are facing increasing risks and threats’ from government forces.
The Syrian defence ministry, in a statement, said it is prepared to take over al-Hol and the prisons and accused the SDF of using them as ‘bargaining chips.’
