The family of a UK girl of Bangladeshi descent, who fled to join Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015, has appealed to the government to allow her new born baby to be rescued from the Syrian refugee camp and raised in Britain.
Sister of Shamima Begum, Renu, has written to UK home secretary Sajid Javid urging for his assistance and also informed him of the family's plan to help her 19-year-old sister mount a legal challenge against his decision to revoke her British citizenship.
"We were pleased to learn from your comments in the Commons that you recognise my nephew, Shamima's son, as a British citizen," Renu Begum said in a letter to the UK Home Secretary.
"As a family, we ask now how we can assist you in bringing my nephew home to us. In all of this debacle, he is the one true innocent and should not lose the privilege of being raised in the safety of this country," it notes.
Distancing the family from some of the "vile comments" made in support of the ISIS by Shamima Begum during media interviews, Renu Begum stresses that the exploitation of her younger sister at the hands of the terror group has "fundamentally damaged" her.
The letter further adds: "As we have already expressed, we are sickened by the comments she has made, but, as a family man yourself, we hope you will understand that we, as her family cannot simply abandon her.
"We hope you understand our position in this respect and why we must, therefore, assist Shamima in challenging your decision to take away the one thing that is her only hope at rehabilitation, her British citizenship. Shamima's status will now be a matter for our British courts to decide in due course."