A British-born woman who travelled to Syria as a teenager and was linked to Shamima Begum and other Bethnal Green schoolgirls has reportedly been found alive and detained in Syria.
Sharmeena Begum, 27, left London for Syria in December 2014 when she was 15. Two months later, Shamima Begum, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, who attended the same school, also travelled to Syria. Sharmeena and Shamima are not related.
German reporting on September 25 said investigators had identified Sharmeena as a contact of Abdul Ballout, the man accused of carrying out the deadly attack on Berlin’s Christopher Street Day on July 25.
According to German reports citing information from the country’s Federal Criminal Police Office, Sharmeena was subsequently located and detained in Syria.
Investigators reportedly uncovered contact before Berlin attack
The development reportedly emerged during the investigation into the Berlin attack.
German media reported that Ballout had been communicating with Sharmeena shortly before the incident and allegedly sent her a video in which he claimed allegiance to Islamic State.
The recording was reportedly recovered from Ballout’s phone and investigators believe it may have been intended to be passed to an Islamic State propaganda contact. German reporting says it was never published.
Investigators subsequently identified the woman as Sharmeena Begum, according to those reports.
Left Britain as a 15-year-old schoolgirl
Sharmeena attended Bethnal Green Academy in east London before leaving Britain in 2014.
Her departure preceded that of Shamima Begum and her two school friends by several months.
Court records from Shamima Begum’s later citizenship case confirm Sharmeena was a school friend and that she had travelled to Syria before the three other teenagers.
Sharmeena’s father, Mohammad Uddin, previously said he had heard nothing from his daughter after she left Britain and did not know whether she was still alive.
She was, however, reportedly traced by the BBC in 2023 and was said to have been living under another identity in Syria.
Detention raises fresh questions over her future
The latest reports indicate that Sharmeena is now in detention in Syria, although the precise circumstances of her arrest, who is holding her and what legal proceedings may follow have not yet been fully established publicly.
The reported discovery brings renewed attention to one of the unresolved cases involving young Britons who travelled to Islamic State-controlled territory during the Syrian conflict.
Any allegations concerning Sharmeena’s more recent activities remain subject to investigation and should not be treated as establishing criminal guilt unless proved through legal proceedings.
