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The family of Bethnal Green teenager Shamima Begum have urged the British government to give them custody of her unborn child while she faces the prospect of imprisonment for supporting Islamic State. The pregnant 19-year-old has said she fears her baby, due to be born anytime now, will be taken from her if she manages to return to Britain after leaving the country in 2015 to join the terror group in Syria. Now her family have said that if she were to face a custodial sentence for her support of a terrorist organisation they will step in to raise the child, rather than the taxpayer having to pick up the cost. Muhammad Rahman, 36, whose brother is married to Shamima’s elder sister Renu, told The Sunday Telegraph: “Her parents would want custody of the baby. They would want to look after their grandchild. “I don’t think people, feeling the way many do about what Shamima has done, would want the state to pick up the burden of looking after the child.” Once in Syria she was married off to Yago Riedijk, 26, a Muslim convert from the Netherlands and bore him two children Mr Rahman added: “It’s in our culture for the rest of the family to step in and look after the children when there’s a problem and would make Shamima feel better if she ends up serving a prison sentence and she knows her parents are looking after her baby. “Both her parents are alive and are capable of looking after the baby. Hopefully then Shamima can be reunited with her baby after she has been freed from any spell in custody.” It comes after her family pleaded with the Government to treat the case as a "matter of urgency", as they said in a statement that the "welfare of Shamima’s unborn baby is of paramount concern". Shamima’s parents are now consulting their lawyer about the prospect of legal action against the British government to force it to allow the teenager back into the country. Ben Wallace, the Home Office minister in charge of security, last week rebuffed Shamima’s plea to be rescued from the Syrian refugee camp where she is currently stranded, saying her “actions have consequences”. At the same time Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, has said he would use all his available powers to prevent her return. But Shamima’s family believe that flies in the face of both common humanity and the British state’s responsibility towards one of its own citizens. Mr Rahman said: “Shamima’s family are taking the advice of their solicitor as to what to do next and that might well involve legal action to force the Government to allow her to return to Britain. That is certainly one prospect.” Family members say that while they recognise she may face prosecution and may have to undertake a period of intensive rehabilitation to ensure she presents no threat to the public, they also argue that Britain cannot simply ‘dump’ its problem citizens on another country. The schoolgirl who turned to Isil Her family are of Bangladeshi origin, but Shamima - who is nine months pregnant - was raised and schooled in London until falling under the spell of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Once in Syria she was married off to Yago Riedijk, 26, a Muslim convert from the Netherlands and bore him two children, who both died while babies. She said in an interview with The Times on Saturday: "What do you think will happen to my child? Because I don’t want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.” Mr Rahman, who works as an electrician, said: “I can understand why many people in Britain do not want Shamima to be allowed back into the country after what she has done. I know people are scared about what she might do if she came back, if she might still be dangerous, but she went as a 15-year-old and I don’t know how a 15-year-old can make make such a decision with any responsibility. “She was a minor when she left and she has surely been brainwashed when she was out there. If there’s any possibility of a good outcome being achieved, by helping her to return and go through some sort of rehabilitation, it should be tried.” The 36-year-old family man, who lives in a house in east London previously occupied by Shamima’s sister Renu, added: “They want to be reunited as a family again. She is their daughter. If she is remorseful and can be set back on the right path then perhaps we can be compassionate as a society and think the best of people. “Every family wants to think the best of their children and their close ones but they had no idea she was being led down the path she was otherwise they would have tried to stop her. They think the best of their daughter and whatever difficulties she comes back with they believe they can fix.” Mr Rahman said Shamima’s decision to leave Britain and travel to Syria in February 2015, aged just 15, with her two friends from Bethnal Green Academy, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, had stunned her family, who had always considered themselves hard working people trying to do their best for their children. “I first met her when she was a little girl, just 11, and she was just a normal little girl. When I heard that she had left the country to travel to Syria it was completely out of the blue, both for me and her family. There is no way they would have let her do that if they had known she was planning to leave like that.” Tasnime Akunjee, solicitor for the three families of the Bethnal Green girls with Mayfair law firm Farooq Bajwa & Co, yesterday questioned whether the Home Secretary had the power to prevent Shamima returning to Britain. Writing on Twitter he said: “Sajid Javid the home secretary, does he understand UK laws?” Earlier Mr Akunjee stated: “It looks as if Mr Javid is trying to oppose that. I don’t believe he has the legal grounds or tools to stop her coming back.”
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