Toen in 2015 drie Londense schoolmeisjes vermist raakten, zorgden ze voor wereldwijde krantenkoppen en de mediastorm die daarop volgde, duurt tot op de dag van vandaag voort. Destijds was onderzoeksjournalist Josh Baker aan het filmen in een moskee in de meisjesbuurt terwijl hun families hulp kwamen zoeken; hun dochters waren op weg naar Syrië om zich bij de Islamitische Staatsgroep aan te sluiten. Maar het was te laat en ze verdwenen binnen het zogenaamde kalifaat. Vier jaar lang bleef hun lot een mysterie – waarbij slechts af en toe een glimp en soms tegenstrijdige berichten openbaar werden gemaakt over wat ze met de terreurgroep deden. Slechts één van de meisjes kwam voort uit de as van het zogenaamde kalifaat: Shamima Begum.
De nieuwe serie neemt luisteraars mee in de pogingen van Josh om erachter te komen wat er werkelijk is gebeurd, en onthult nieuwe informatie over een van de meest besproken verhalen van onze tijd. Hij reist van Bethnal Green in Oost-Londen naar de diepten van het door ISIS gecontroleerde Syrië, terwijl hij Shamima Begum uitdaagt en onderzoekt of het verhaal dat ze vertelt waar is.
Seeking to separate fact from fiction, the multi award-winning series returns to investigate the divisive story of Shamima Begum.
When three London school girls went missing in 2015, they generated global headlines and the media storm that ensued continues to this day. Back then, investigative journalist Josh Baker was filming at a mosque in the girls’ neighbourhood as their families came to seek help; their daughters were on the way to Syria to join the Islamic State group. But it was too late, and they disappeared inside the so-called caliphate.
For four years, their fate remained a mystery – with only occasional glimpses and sometimes conflicting reports of what they were doing with the terror group being made public. Only one of the girls emerged from the ashes of the so called caliphate – Shamima Begum.
The new series will take listeners inside Josh’s attempts to figure out what really happened, unearthing new information about one of the most talked about stories of our time. He travels from Bethnal Green in East London to the depths of what was ISIS controlled Syria as he challenges Shamima Begum and investigates if the story she tells is true.
Series One – ‘I’m Not A Monster: from BBC Panorama & FRONTLINE PBS’
The first series of I’m Not A Monster told the story of Sam Sally, an American mother who left behind a comfortable life and travelled to the heart of what the Islamic State group called its caliphate with her family. Her husband became an IS sniper and her 10 year-old son was forced to appear in an infamous propaganda video threatening President Trump. It’s the BBC’s most awarded podcast series to date, having received 16 nominations, winning 11 awards in 10 different international programme competitions including the Rose d ‘Or for Best Audio series, three Golds and the Grand Jury Prize at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and Best Documentary Series at the Webbys and the inaugural Podcast Academy Awards (the Ambies) in 2021.
Nine years to the day since Shamima Begum entered ISIS controlled Syria, she’ll find out whether she’s any closer to coming back to Britain. Josh is at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London to hear whether Begum’s lawyers have succeeded in arguing that the British government’s decision to take away her citizenship was unlawful.
After she emerged from the remnants of the Islamic State group in 2019, the British Home Secretary took away her citizenship saying she was a threat to national security. Her lawyers claim that he failed to consider whether she was victim of trafficking.
Will her appeal succeed?
