Shamima Begum: The Blame Game

In February 2015, 15 year old Shamima Begum left the UK with two of her school friends. They were travelling from the UK to Syria to join the ISIS Caliphate.

In the first few hours of the investigation, the girls seem to be on their way to Turkey. Their families and the police aren’t yet ready to make a public appeal. Everyone wants them to come back without their names and faces being pictured all over the newspapers but at Gatwick Airport the CCTV cameras have captured a powerful piece of evidence. The girls have been filmed strolling through the terminal on their way to catch their flight.

As the timeline of their journey starts to unravel, ITV’s Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo revisits the headlines to ask why they left and ultimately, who is to blame?

The girl’s journey from Bethnal Green to Syria makes headlines around the world.

A diplomatic row is brewing, territory is still being crossed by the three girls on the road towards Raqqa. It’s seventeen days since they went missing, a message comes into ITV News from a contact. It’s from a source in Syria with news about the girls. They say they’re in a safe house where they’re apparently “waiting to get married” and it sounds like they don’t want to come back.

ITV’s Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo delves into the fallout as government agencies and politicians engage in a round of finger pointing.

Eighteen months since the girls went missing and one of them - Kadiza Sultana - is dead.

Representatives from three different political parties in Tower Hamlets come together to discuss the question of a serious case review - or lack of one. Questions for the local authorities are asked.

And after years of silence, Shamima escapes from ISIS territory and is finally found. ITV’s Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo meets her to present her with a letter from the Home Secretary stripping her of her British Citizenship.
Why has she become one of the most hated women in Britain and what role does gender play in our perception of terrorism?

Shamima Begum is no longer British. Her case is heard in the Supreme Court - but will she ever be judged fairly?

She’s stuck in a Syrian camp, nowhere to go. Not into freedom in Syria, or back home to go on trial, and certainly not to Bangladesh.

She says she’s being singled out because of the intense media attention she’s received but we look at other cases like hers to see just how common losing your British citizenship is.

In this final episode, ITV’s Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo looks at the role of the media and of the public in shaping Shamima’s story.





Shamima Begum: The Blame Game is written and presented by Rohit Kachroo, produced by Dawn Kelly, Tam Hussein, Dan Howells, Katie Bilboa and Will Tullis. The executive producer is Matt Williams.