An ISIS 'matchmaker' who reportedly lured Shamima Begum to Syria has begged the British people to allow her to return to the UK in an unprecedented open letter.
Tooba Gondal, 25, travelled from her home in Walthamstow, east London, to the terrorist group's de facto capital of Raqqa in 2015.
The former student reappeared in the Ain Issa camp, in northern Syria, with her two children Asiya and Ibrahim in April. She had been trying to flee from ISIS-held Baghuz to the Turkish border when she was stopped and handed over to western-backed Kurdish forces.
The mother-of-two has now made a desperate plea to the British public in an open letter, in which she implores the government to allow her to return with her children
In the note, published by the Sunday Times, she said: 'I desperately wish for the British government to take us back. I want to prove that I am a changed person; a much better individual for society.
'I want to face justice in a British court. I wish to redeem myself. I would like Britain to accept my apology and to give me another chance.'
Gondal's father, Mohammed, confirmed she was banned from re-entering the UK after being served with a Home Office exclusion order last November.
Her son Ibrahim is entitled to British citizenship because his father - who was killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq - was from the UK.
Gondal was accused in the past of acting as a 'matchmaker' for the terrorist group and luring women to Syria to marry ISIS fighters. It is believed jihadi bride Shamima Begum was among her recruits, the Mirror reported.
It was said Gondal's poisonous outpourings on the internet had glorified the murderous acts of Islamic State terrorists. In her rants, she called Britain a 'filthy country' and praised the 2015 terror attack on a Paris theatre.
But now, from the detention camp, Gondal has insisted she was 'manipulated and persuaded' that it was her 'obligation as a Muslim to travel to Syria'.
She wrote: 'I was a vulnerable target to Isis recruiters. I was manipulated and persuaded that it was an obligation as a Muslim to travel to Syria.
'I never became a member of Isis. I was forced at many stages to marry and I can't say how many times I tried to escape. I wanted to leave from the start, but it became impossible. These criminals threatened to kill my babies.'
The mother-of-two has also offered to help 'prevent vulnerable Muslims from being targeted and radicalised' if she was permitted to return.
In the letter, she insisted her children are 'completely innocent' though she admits she must be held 'to account' for travelling to Syria.
Connect With Us