Shamima Begum: ISIS bride's father apologises to UK for daughter 'doing wrong'

The father of ISIS bride Shamima Begum has apologised to the British public for her decision to join the terror group.

Ahmed Ali said Ms Begum had “done wrong without realising it.”

Ms Begum, 19, left London to join ISIS aged 15, with two other school girls.

"She has done wrong, I apologise to everyone as her father, to the British people, I am sorry for Shamima's doing," he told the BBC.

"I request to the British people, please forgive her."

Ms Begum resurfaced heavily pregnant in a refugee camp in northern Syria last month and spoke of her desire to return to the UK, as the self-styled caliphate collapsed.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Ms Begum of her British citizenship amid a fierce national debate over whether she should be allowed to return.

On Friday, it was confirmed her three week old son had died of pneumonia.

Mr Ali, 60, spoke to the BBC in a village in north-eastern Bangladesh before he found out Ms Begum's baby son had died.

He said she should be allowed to return to the UK, where she could face prosecution.

He pointed out his daughter was a child when she travelled to Syria.

"She was under age at that time, she couldn't understand that much. I suppose someone influenced her to do that," he said.

"I admit that she might have done wrong without realising it."

He urged the British government and public to "take her back and punish her if she had done any mistake".

He said he had “no idea” whether his daughter was being radicalised.

He has lived mainly in Bangladesh in recent years, visiting London for two to four months at a time.

"I do not stay there more than that. I do not know much about her [lately]," he said.

"The time I stayed with Shamima, I never felt any such behaviour of going to Syria or joining IS."

The Home Secretary has been criticised for refusing to allow Ms Begum to return to the UK with her child.