‘Hell is other people.’
‘Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes… it’s awful!’
‘From a hundred rabbits you can’t make a horse, a hundred suspicions don’t make a proof.’
These powerful, despairing words are nestled in the pages of world-famous books and plays penned by some of history’s most acclaimed writers.
But they are also plastered on a wall in one of Syria’s most notorious refugee camps, right outside the tent where British ISIS bride Shamima Begum has languished for years.
Ms Begum abandoned her family in London ten years ago to join the Islamic State in Syria – a journey that made her the UK’s most infamous teenager.
The 25-year-old is now campaigning to be repatriated back home to stand trial in the UK – something the Kurdish-led authorities of the camp say is the responsibility of the British government.
Instead, the government revoked her passport, effectively marooning her in Syria’s ‘Roj’ camp where thousands of foreigners who signed up to join the terror group are detained.
With her chances of ever seeing British shores again now slim to none, it appears Ms Begum has turned the wall outside her tent into a canvas for virulent graffiti.
The words scrawled on the dusty mortar may offer a glimpse into the former ISIS bride’s state of mind as she sits in an open-air prison that offers neither escape nor hope.
I recently travelled to Camp Roj in the hopes of meeting Ms Begum, and I saw firsthand the wall of graffiti as I attempted to cajole her out of the tent to speak with me.
The wall outside the tent where British ISIS bride Shamima Begum has languished for years in Camp Roj
Shamima Begum is living in a Syrian refugee camp holding thousands of foreign ISIS fighters who are waiting to be repatriated
MailOnline’s Chief Foreign Reporter David Averre is seen moments after being turned away by Shamima Begum following a brief conversation
Shamima Begum is being held indefinitely in Camp Roj, in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakeh
The words are uneven – some faint, some scribbled out, others pressed deep into the sun-blasted wall face.
There is anger in them, exhaustion and even humour, evident from one note that reads: ‘PIES Welcome (lol)’.
But above all, the messages reveal a dark sense of despair – a result of reflection upon the notion that she may never again walk free.
Emblazoned at the top of the wall, sitting above all else, is the quote ‘Hell is other people,’ – a famous line from Jean-Paul Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ play in which three people are punished in the afterlife, locked in a room together for eternity.
A few inches away, another phrase echoes her entrapment – ‘Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful!’ – a quote from Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’, itself a meditation on the futility of hope.
Other messages, however, are somewhat less profound and laden with expletives.
‘F***!’ – one message reads, with a second word erased, seemingly by a stone violently scraped back and forth against the wall.
Then, there is a paradox.
A ‘coexist’ sign – the ‘O’ transformed into the universal dove-and-olive branch symbol for peace – next to a faded, almost obliterated inscription of the word ‘Daesh’, the Arabic acronym for ISIS whose members remain hell-bent on building an Islamic caliphate with no tolerance for any other religion.
Is this a rejection of the ideology she once embraced – or perhaps a reluctant recognition of the inescapable shadow cast by the extremist group’s black flag?
I was desperate to find out, but unfortunately, Ms Begum refused to tell me.
I had initially expected to meet her in a small outhouse at the camp’s entrance, but she slammed the door in my face when she learned I was a journalist.
After giving her some time to cool off, I approached her tent in a final attempt to convince her. Her response was brief, but final.
‘No thank you, bye!’
Although I wasn’t able to share a proper conversation with Ms Begum, the messages etched into the stone wall next to her living quarters speak volumes about her position.
She is just one of tens of thousands of people who travelled from Britain, the US and many other Western nations to join ISIS and help build their caliphate after being swept up in propaganda that promised a utopian Islamic State.
Within months, had married a fellow foreign ISIS member – Dutchman Yago Riedijk – and went on to give birth to three children, all of whom died in infancy.
For years her whereabouts were unknown, but in 2019 she was discovered by journalists in Camp Al-Hol – Syria’s largest refugee camp holding displaced ISIS fighters after the group was defeated.
MailOnline’s Chief Foreign Reporter David Averre is seen speaking with Shamima Begum outside her tent
Shamima Begum is seen in 2019 shortly after her British citizenship was revoked
Shamima Begum is seen in Camp Roj
People stand in a queue at Camp Roj, where relatives of people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group are held in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province on October 8, 2023
At that time, she expressed little to no remorse for her decision to join the terror group, infamously describing the Manchester Arena bombing as ‘justified’ – a remark that solidified public outrage back home.
She was controversially stripped of her British citizenship by then Foreign Secretary Sajid Javid, and left adrift in Camp Al-Hol.
Now 25 years old, Begum is living in Roj camp – a facility reserved for foreign ISIS members who are believed to have been deradicalised that is separated from the gargantuan Al-Hol.
She ditched her hijab, adopted Western clothing and now claims to have renounced her extremist ideals, longing for a return to the UK.
She has recognised that she would face terror charges and likely a lengthy prison sentence.
But her appeals have fallen on deaf ears.
The British government has refused to take her back, citing security risks, and in August 2024, the Supreme Court delivered its final ruling following an appeal by her lawyers – Begum will not be allowed to return.
Since then she has refused to speak to Western media, almost without exception.
Her lawyers meanwhile have said they will approach the European Court of Human Rights in a last ditch attempt to reclaim her British citizenship.
If that fails, there is no prospect of her being repatriated.
Ms Begum’s frustration with her legal woes is encapsulated on her wall of graffiti by a quote from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment: ‘From a hundred rabbits you can’t make a horse, a hundred suspicions don’t make a proof.’
This, to me, was a clear comment on her yearslong battle to regain her citizenship and the unanimous judgments cast against her, sealing her fate in the dust of Camp Roj.
Now, she is neither free nor imprisoned. She has not been put on trial, nor does she face any charges.
Instead, she is simply trapped in a purgatory where time is no longer seems linear and day after day unfolds the same way.
Shamima Begum refuses to speak to MailOnline reporter from behind ‘wall of despair’
People walk around at Camp Roj, where relatives of people suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group are held, in the countryside near al-Malikiyah (Derik) in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province on October 8, 2023
Both Al-Hol and Roj camps are located in the Hasakeh province of northeast Syria in a democratic, autonomous region called Rojava founded by Syria’s Kurds whose Syrian Democratic Forces were the main ally of the international coalition that defeated ISIS.
Shamima Begum is just one of tens of thousands of people from the UK, Europe, and beyond who are detained in Al-Hol and Roj, as well as other makeshift prisons dedicated to adult male ISIS fighters.
For the authorities in Rojava, officially known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), this is an untenable situation.
They argue that their region cannot indefinitely bear the burden of guarding thousands of foreign detainees, many of whom still adhere to ISIS’ ideology.
They warn that these camps are incubators for radicalisation where extremist networks continue to operate, indoctrinating children and reinforcing allegiance to the caliphate.
‘We want our partners in the international community, who fought with us against ISIS, to not forget the sacrifices our people made,’ said Jihan Hanan, co-chair and chief administrator of Al-Hol camp.
‘The case of Al-Hol (and Roj camp) is directly connected to the case of ISIS.’
Rojava’s authorities say they have limited resources to ensure the security of these camps, while ISIS sleeper cells remain active across Syria and Iraq, waiting for an opportunity to free detainees and reignite their insurgency.
Now, with the region facing external threats from Turkey, Turkish-backed militant groups and perhaps even Syria’s new rulers HTS, the Kurds warn they cannot hold the line forever.
Their message to the West is clear – these prisoners are not just their problem and should be the responsibility of the nations they came from.
If repatriation does not happen, the camps will continue to fuel extremism and will one day explode into an ISIS resurgence that could threaten not only the Middle East, but the rest of the world.
