Daesh mother 鈥榬egrets everything鈥� about Syria journey

Tareena Shakil, from Birmingham, traveled to Syria, via Turkey, in 2014 to join Daesh. (West Midlands Police)
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  • Tareena Shakil traveled to Syria with her son, 1, in 2014
  • She hopes her story will deter others from following the same path

LONDON: A woman convicted of terrorist offenses for traveling to Syria to join Daesh has said she 鈥渞egrets everything鈥� about it.

Tareena Shakil, 32, was jailed in 2016 upon returning to Britain from Syria after spending three months living in Daesh鈥檚 so-called caliphate.

Shakil, from Birmingham, has now been released from prison and has completed a de-radicalization program. She said she hopes her story will be a warning to others.

She is 鈥渁shamed鈥� of her actions and 鈥渓ives with the consequences every day,鈥� she said.

A former healthcare worker, Shakil traveled in secret to Syria along with her 1-year-old son in 2014 and lived in a house with other women awaiting marriage to Daesh fighters.

鈥淐onversations were often listened to and you were generally expected to behave in a certain way,鈥� she told the BBC. 

鈥淵ou know, you don鈥檛 cause any trouble. There were two girls who didn鈥檛 act that way, who would just act up,鈥� she said.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 even really give an example, they were just unruly and a van came, men came off the van and took them girls away, and we never saw them again.鈥�

After less than three months, Shakil fled to Turkey and returned to the UK, where she was arrested, tried, and jailed for six years.

During her trial, she was found to have encouraged acts of terrorism in her social media posts.

The mother described her de-radicalization journey as 鈥渓ong.鈥� 

Looking back, she said she remembers 鈥渇eeling really sad, really bitter, really taken advantage of and duped鈥� as she was radicalized.

鈥淚 remember feeling really ashamed of myself to some degree that I allowed it to happen.鈥�