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Qatar tribune
Shamima Begum, one of three teenage girls to flee east London for a new life with the Islamic State group, says she has given birth to a baby boy.
Ms Begum left four years ago aged 15. Found in a Syrian refugee camp last week, she now hopes to return home.
The 19-year-old told Sky News: "People should have sympathy towards me for everything I've been through."
Under international law, the UK is obliged to let a Briton without the claim to another nationality back in.
Asked if she had made a mistake by travelling to Syria, Ms Begum told Sky News: "In a way, yes, but I don't regret it because it's changed me as a person.
"It's made me stronger, tougher. I married my husband. I wouldn't have found someone like him back in the UK."
She continued: "I had my kids, I did have a good time there.
"It's just that then things got harder and I couldn't take it anymore."
Earlier, Mohammed Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for Ms Begum's family, told Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "They are obviously very happy and joyous that Shamima has successfully given birth and that she's healthy."
But he added that following the reported death of Ms Begum's other two children in Syria, they were "very concerned" about the baby and wanted them to come back.
Ms Begum and two other schoolgirls, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, left Bethnal Green in east London in February 2015.
Kadiza is thought to have died when a house was blown up, and the fate of Almira is unknown.
Ms Begum was first tracked down by The Times. In an interview published on 13 February, she said she was heavily pregnant and had lost two children.
Asked if she was aware of IS beheadings before going to Syria, she told Sky News: "I knew about those things and I was OK with it. Because, you know, I started becoming religious just before I left.
"From what I heard, Islamically that is all allowed."
She continued: "During the time I left I saw all the videos on the internet and that just kind of attracted me to them. Like it attracted a lot of people."
Ms Begum said she escaped from Baghuz, Islamic State's last stronghold in eastern Syria, two weeks ago.
Her husband, a Dutch convert to Islam, is thought to have surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters.
She told Sky News: "I was just a housewife for the entire four years.
"They don't really have proof I did anything that is dangerous."
Meanwhile, debate continues over whether Ms Begum should be stopped from returning to the UK.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned he would "not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS.
He wrote: "The difficult challenge we now face is what we should do about those who are still seeking to return."
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17/02/2019
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