'They are normal teenagers who watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians': Families of three schoolgirls who fled Britain to join ISIS tell MPs there was 'no sign they had been radicalised'

 

• .Girls aged 15 and 16 disappeared from their London homes last month
• .They are now believed to be in Raqqa, the 'capital' of ISIS's territory
• .Relatives of the three girls said today that they no idea of their plan 
• .They are angry at police for not telling them about another girl's flight
• .Sister of one girl says she was a normal teenager who watched reality TV
• .Comes after David Cameron said authorities cannot shoulder full blame

By RICHARD SPILLETT FOR MAILONLINE

Relatives of three schoolgirls who fled Britain to join ISIS in Syria have said they had no idea the girls had been radicalised.

Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase flew from Gatwick to Istanbul on February 17 and are feared to have continued to Syria to become so-called 'jihadi brides' with ISIS militants.

Appearing before the Home Affairs Select Committee, Amira's father Hussen Abase, Khadiza's cousin Fahmida Aziz and Shamima's sister Sahima Begum said there were no indications the girls had been radicalised.

The relatives said they had no idea the girls had been radicalised and planned to join extremists. 

Shamima's sister Sahima Begum said: 'My sister was into normal teenage things. She used to watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians.' 

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Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, left Britain to join ISIS in Syria last month

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Khadiza's cousin Fahmida Aziz (left), Shamima's sister Sahima Begum (centre) and Amira's father Hussen Abase (right), appeared before MPs today

Ms Begum said her family felt let down by the police because they were not told of suspicions that a friend of the girls from the same school had joined ISIS in December.  

Her comments referred to letter which the police gave the three schoolgirls - as well as four other girls - addressed to their families about the other runaway pupil at Bethnal Green Academy, who was also 15.

However, the girls did not pass the letters on to their families, prompting questions over why it was not delivered directly to their parents.

Family solicitor Tasnime Akunjee claimed the Metropolitan Police owes the parents an apology over the way the similar case was handled. 

Mr Akunjee said had the parents received the letter they would have been 'on notice' for issues like radicalisation and foreign travel.

Sahima said she and her family 'did what they could' to monitor Shamima's activities.

However, she added they would have done more had they known the first girl - a friend of Shamima's - had gone to Syria.

'We would have questioned that,' she said.

Shamima's sister Sahima said she was not aware of the Government's anti-radicalisation programme Prevent before her sister went missing.

She said her sister should have been given a risk assessment under the Prevent strategy when she was interviewed about her friend going missing last December.

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The families of Kadiza Sultana (left) and Amira Abase (right) were left shocked when the girls disappeared

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The family of Shamima Begum previously said they knew she had 'strong feelings' about conflict in the region

Scotland Yard has previously said that, 'with the benefit of hindsight', letters addressed to seven girls' families could have been delivered directly to their parents.

The force claimed today that the parents had already been made aware by the school's deputy head that the 15-year-old girl had gone to Syria.

But it later issued a clarification stating that the deputy head merely told the families that the girl had gone missing.

The families appearance came after Prime Minister David Cameron insisted politicians, parents, communities and schools all had a responsibility to stop young Britons joining the brutal regime.

My sister was into normal teenage things. She used to watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Shamima Begum's sister Sahima

In an interview with LBC radio, Mr Cameron said that no institution should be made a 'scapegoat' for the girls' disappearance.

'I think everyone has a role to play. Of course we need the police to act as swiftly as they can, we need Border Force to work as fast as they can.

'But let's be frank about this, when you have got educated British schoolgirls at an outstanding school in Greenwich finding it somehow attractive to get on a plane to travel to Syria to go and live in a country where gay people are being thrown off buildings and British citizens are being beheaded, and appalling brutality is being meted out, we have a problem, clearly, that has got to involve all of us - politicians, parents, communities, schools.'

The Prime Minister added: 'Everyone has to work together. Let's not pretend this is simply a problem that can be dealt with by policing.' 

It was reported at the weekend that the girls are believed to have crossed from Turkey to Syria through the town of Arai and are now in Raqqa - the de-facto capital of the area controlled by ISIS.

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Sahima Begum (left), the sister of Shamima Begum (right), said her sister was a normal teenager who watched Keeping Up With The Kardashians

CCTV cameras captured images of the trio waiting to board a bus to travel to the Turkish border where ISIS militants were waiting for them.

Unlike in the images from Gatwick Airport, which showed the girls in Western clothes, the Turkish footage shows them having changed into traditional Islamic burkas. 

Before they went missing, one of the girls, Shamima, used her Twitter account to contact a former medical student, 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood, who left Glasgow last year to join ISIS and marry a jihadis.

Friends suspect that Amira and the other girls were in touch with Aqsa and ISIS recruiters via their mobile phones or home computers since before Christmas.

At least 22 young women are feared to have travelled to Syria from the UK over the past 12 months.

Police have warned that girls lured to Syria by ISIS faced sex abuse at the hands of 'deeply misogynistic' militants.

Officers have said British jihadi brides are often oblivious to the reality of life under the terror group and will be powerless to escape once they arrive.

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The girls were pictured going through security at Gatwick Airport last month, dressed in Western clothes

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They were later seen on CCTV in Turkey, dressed in burkas and waiting for a bus to take them to the border