The story of the only British woman convicted of terrorism: from ISIS to social media influencer
Tareena Shakil, the convicted terrorist who fled the UK to Syria to join ISIS with her son, has completely reinvented herself and is now an influencer, traveling the world and posting on social media.
Current influencer, former jihadist PHOTO Daily Mail
According to the Daily Mail, she posted pictures on Facebook of her son wearing a balaclava with ISIS insignia, along with others of her holding an AK47 and a pistol next to the terrorist group's flag.
Shakil was sentenced in 2016 to six years in prison for joining ISIS and encouraging terrorist acts on social media.
Now, she posts pictures in stylish western outfits and seems to aspire to an exclusive lifestyle. The influencer traveled to Paris for Christmas after previously shopping in London, posing at a Chanel store.
He also visited Thailand, where he spent his vacation on a private beach, but also Italy, Romania and many other countries.
On her TikTok account, which has nearly 50,000 followers and more than five million likes, Shakil, who calls herself “thatgirl.tamtam,” posts dozens of dating advice videos.
On YouTube, he posts longer videos focused on positivity and sharing “success mindset”.
In one of his latest videos, Shakil shared how he developed his strength of character and resilience after overcoming “terrible times in her life.”
Without referring to her past as a jihadist, she stated:
“You need hard times – to cry alone at night. When you go through these things, you become a fantastic version of yourself. There is no situation that life throws at me that overwhelms me – absolutely not. There is no one person to make me do what they say.
No one can ever get the better of me. I don't do things I don't want to do. I know how to get out of situations where I feel uncomfortable. I'm a young woman living alone in a big city – I need these skills. The version of woman I am today is the best version of the woman I could be. She was built and born through difficult times.”
She modestly added, “Fierce women like me, confident women like me—we're not born that way. Absolutely not at all. I'm like this because of a lot of trauma I've been through. I'm incredibly confident.”
She was the only British woman convicted of terrorist offences
Tareena Shakil/PHOTO: Instagram collage @thatgirl.tamtam and West Midleand Police
Shakil, a former medical worker in Birmingham, was the first and only British woman convicted of terror offenses after returning from the caliphate.
Sentencing in February 2016, Mr Justice Inman said: “The most alarming thing is that you took your young child to Syria knowing how he would be used.”
The judge stated that Shakil said “lie after lie to the police and in court” and that posting her son in an ISIS hood next to guns was one of the most outrageous aspects of the case.
Although it was obvious that to “radicalized” after online discussions with prominent members of the terrorist group, Shakil showed no remorse and “hug” active role of “to provide fighters for the future”.
Tareena Shakil grew up in a mixed British-Pakistani family, having a normal and happy childhood, according to her mother, who says Tareena was a good and responsible girl.
Shakil was a model student and won a place at the University of Birmingham to study psychology, but dropped out and used her student loan to finance her mission to become a “ISIS martyr”.
In the second year of studies, she met a barber, they got married, and she got pregnant. The relationship became abusive, and she began secretly planning the trip to Syria, seeking “security and peace in an Islamic state'.
In October 2014, he told the family that his 14-month-old son was going on holiday to Turkey. Instead of the beach, ISIS traffickers smuggled her to Syria, in Raqqa, to be groomed as a future jihadi bride.
Although she was arranged to marry an American convert, she fled after discovering that life in the “Islamic paradise” was dangerous and bombed.
She returned to the UK and was arrested at Heathrow Airport in February 2015. After her release in 2018, Shakil said she regrets everything and lives with the consequences of her actions every day.
