By Christian George
Shamima Begum, a 37 years old woman who landed at Manchester Airport was accosted, detained, and interrogated.
She reportedly used the bathroom with the door not being closed with a male officer watching even as she was said to be on her period.
The problem was not the lady but the name, Shamima Begum, similar to the London woman who left the country as a teenager to join Isis in Syria.
While returning from a holiday in Turkey with her partner at Manchester Airport, she was told to seek assistance at the e-gate machines.
In a report by Independent UK, Ms. Begum says a border force staff said her name seemed to be the problem, in that it was similar to “someone of interest”.
She made her way through towards baggage reclaim, but says five officers raced towards them and detained her under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, advising that she shared the same name as someone “wanted”.
Her belongings were seized including her bag and phone.
She claimed to have been subjected to three hours of questioning about the origins of her name, why she is a Muslim, her family history, details of her mortgage payments, whether she “thinks bombing is okay” and more.
She claimed to have been humiliated by the police even though she was eventually released.
Before going on the holiday, both her parents had died.
She said, “I’m traumatised. At first, I was confused; I’ve travelled to many destinations previously and never had this problem.
“After I was let go, I cried from the airport to my house and couldn’t face the outside world…It was a dark and difficult time which still impacts me, unfortunately.”
