Share

UK woman found guilty of taking son to join IS in Syria

The 26-year-old boarded a plane to Turkey in October 2014 with her young boy, where she then crossed the border into Syria and spent the next three months.

Advertisement

She is the first British woman convicted of the offence after returning from the war-torn country.

At Birmingham Crown Court she was found guilty of being a member of a proscribed organisation – namely ISIS – between October 23, 2014, and January 9 previous year, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2000.

Tareena Shakil had her boy pose in pictures wearing an ISIS balaclava after leaving the UK. Another showed a rucksack with a Daesh logo and person holding a handgun.

Shakil, who now lives in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, told police she had arranged to meet Ahmed close to the Syria border but he didn’t turn up.

In police interviews Tareena had told officers she was kidnapped into Syria from a Turkish beach.

The 26-year-old had told the court that she was unaware of the evil associated with ISIS and simply wanted to live under Sharia law.

In a conversation with her father on WhatsApp, in mid-December 2014 while living under IS rule, she told him: “I want to die here as a martyr”.

Judge Melbourne Inman QC said: “You will be sentenced on Monday morning”.

Former psychology student Shakil travelled to Syria after an ISIS fighter she was talking to on Facebook named Fabio Pocas said she would go to Jehannam (hell) if she stayed in the United Kingdom – the land of the non-believers.

She later claimed these messages were sent under duress by female Islamic State minders.

Nevertheless, she escaped IS territory, telling jurors she realised she had “made a mistake”.

Advertisement

Tareena Shakil was arrested last February 2015 on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offenses and child neglect after arriving at Heathrow airport with her son on a flight from Turkey.

Tareena Shakil 26 a British woman who has been found guilty of joining ISIL in Syria