ISIS bride Shamima Begum 'faked sadness' at being stripped of her of UK citizenship - with tiny gestures including eye-blocking and an arched mouth giving away her REAL feelings, body language expert claims
A UK body language expert has claimed that Runaway ISIS bride Shamima Begum's gestures and expressions in interviews filmed just two years ago belie her real feelings about the terror organisation.
A new discovery+ programme, Shamima Begum: A Faking It Special, examines in forensic detail the schoolgirl-turned-terrorist's reaction to the news in 2019 that she would be stripped of her UK citizenship by the British Government.
Body language expert Dr Cliff Lansley claims on the show that the 22-year-old's body language when she read out the letter from the Home Secretary that stated she was being stripped of her citizenship suggests that she was still loyal to ISIS at the time despite projecting pity at the news.
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Discovery+ programme Shamima Begum: A Faking It Special analyses the ISIS bride's facial expressions during 2019 interviews in which she appears sad at losing her UK citizenship - with body language expert Dr Cliff Lansley claiming micro facial expressions - including repeatedly closing her eyes (pictured) - suggest she was 'probably lying' to TV journalists
Analysing footage from a series of 2019 interviews, Dr Langsley says key micro facial expressions including a twitching nose (pictured) could suggest that Begum wasn't being genuine while being proclaiming she was no longer interested in ISIS
A mouth shrug (pictured) can be interpreted as having 'no confidence' in what you're saying, says the body language expert, suggesting Begum was protesting her alignment with ISIS was over but that her subtle facial features show otherwise
A thumb peeping up - a hand shrug - in the footage is also indicative of no confidence, Dr Langsley claims
The schoolgirl fled London in February 2015 as a 15-year-old, travelling to Syria with two friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, to become a jihadi bride but now claims she no longer supports ISIS and wants to return to the UK.
In the show, which airs tomorrow, Dr Lansley examines footage of Begum filmed during several interviews in 2019, in which she claimed she's no longer aligned with ISIS.
But he says her micro facial expressions and subtle body movements betray her claims and suggests that she was 'probably lying' to the television cameras.
The frame-by-frame analysis examines a clip in which Begums claim she's no threat to the UK.
She's heard saying: 'I'm just a 19-year-old girl with a new-born baby, I don’t have any weapons, I don’t want to hurt anyone.’
However, Dr Lansley argues that Begum is simply exercising 'image management' here.
He explains: 'She's building an image that she’s harmless. But just before she starts with that little advertisement about herself, we get two contradictory body language signals.'
Body language expert Dr Cliff Lansley tells the programme that Begum's micro facial expressions suggest what she's saying in the interviews isn't genuine
The schoolgirl fled London in February 2015 as a 15-year-old, travelling to Syria with two friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, to become a jihadi bride - but now claims she no longer supports ISIS and wants to return to the UK
The body language expert analysed the 2019 video interviews in close-up and frame by frameHe also suggests that her shoulders in the short clip are a potential giveaway that what she's saying may not be genuine - and a subtle thumb roll spotted at the bottom of the screen adds further doubt.
'Second is the shoulders will raise slightly, and third we’ll get the mouth arching, sometimes with the brow raised. But if we look at the bottom of the screen, we can also see a little thumb peeping up.
'She’s doing the hand shrug also. We’ve got a combination, which is corroboration, of "no confidence in what I am about to tell you."'
Eye-blocking - continuously closing her eyes while speaking, a subconscious movement - undermines her words and further indicate deception too, he claims.
Dr Langsley explains: 'What we have here are the eyes closed for about 15 frames, which is just about half a second.
Last month Shamima Begum, looking different in Western clothes, says she believes she will be killed in her prison camp and is 'living in fear constantly' as she continues her fight to return to Britain
In her most recent interview, she added she and her Dutch friend Hafida Haddouch are being targeted by arsonists in the Al Roj camp (pictured) in Syria because they are seen as more Westernised than their campmates
'If I make a claim that I don’t want to hurt anyone, I’ll connect myself with that statement; I’ll say I don’t want to hurt anyone.
'But if I say I don’t want to hurt anyone and close my eyes while I’m using those words, we see that as a contradiction. It’s a deception indicator.'
Dr Langsley continues: 'We get a half second eye closure, which is blocking herself off from that statement. The third thing is we get the hand roll, so you’ll see right at the bottom of the screen here the hand rotating.'
Begum is currently among a 50-strong British contingent of women and children at the encampment, which houses around 800 families in total.
Last month, Begum revealed she believes she will be killed in her prison camp by arsonists targeting 'Westernised, less Muslim' women and is 'living in fear constantly' as she continues her fight to return to Britain.
ISIS bride Begum on claims she aided terrorists, the decision to revoke her citizenship and being a victim herself
Shamima Begum was 15 when she ran away with two other schoolgirls to Syria to marry a Dutch jihadi in 2015. She is accused of trying to recruit others to join before she left - and doing evil jobs for ISIS
On claims she sewed jihadis into suicide vests
'I am willing to go to court and face the people who made these claims and refute these claims, because I know I did nothing in IS (so-called Islamic State) but be a mother and a wife.
'These claims are being made to make me look worse because the Government do not have anything on me. There is no evidence because nothing ever happened.'
On asking for forgiveness
'I know it's very hard for the British people to try and forgive me because they have lived in fear of IS and lost loved ones because of IS, but I also have lived in fear of IS and I also lost loved ones because of IS, so I can sympathise with them in that way.
'I know it is very hard for them to forgive me but I say from the bottom of my heart that I am so sorry if I ever offended anyone by coming here, if I ever offended anyone by the things I said.'
Message for the PM
'I think I could very much help you in your fight against terrorism because you clearly don't know what you're doing'.
She added: 'I want them (the British public) to see me as an asset rather than a threat to them.'
On why she went to Syria
Begum said she came to Syria expecting simply to get married, have children and 'live a pure, Islamic life'.
'The reason I came to Syria was not for violent reasons.' She added: 'At the time I did not know it (so-called Islamic State) was a death cult, I thought it was an Islamic community I was joining. I was being fed a lot of information on the internet by people.'
On justifying the Manchester Arena bombing
She said: 'I do not believe that one evil justifies another evil. I don't think that women and children should be killed for other people's motives and for other people's agendas.'
'I did not know about the Manchester bombing when I was asked. I did not know that people were killed, I did not know that women and children were hurt because of it.'
Begum said it was 'not justifiable to kill innocent people in the name of religion'.
On whether she is a criminal or a terrorist
She said: 'Honestly, the only crime I think I committed was being dumb enough to come to Isis, and even that can be refuted because I was 15 when I came, and you can't, you know, judge a 15-year-old for making a mistake which he or she very quickly regretted making.
'If you really think I did do this, why don't you bring me back and put me on trial, and hear my side of the story.
'If you if you honestly believe that, don't you think I just have to go to jail for it.
'The fact that you think I should rather rot here, instead of face trial... the democracy that you live in, says that everyone deserves a fair trial.'
On her new western look
Begum said she the decision to stop wearing the hijab was one she took for herself and denied that the move was a publicity stunt.
She said: 'I have not been wearing hijab for maybe more than a year now. I took it off for myself, because I felt very constricted in the hijab, I felt like I was not myself.
'And I feel like it makes me happy, to not wear the hijab. I'm not doing for anyone but myself.
'I've had many opportunities to let people take pictures of me without my hijab on, but I did not.'
On the decision to revoke her citizenship
When asked what she would tell Sajid Javid, who was Home Secretary when Begum's British citizenship was revoked, Begum said: 'I understand why he took my citizenship away, that it's his job to think about the interest of the UK before anything else.
'What he saw on the media was not the true me. If he were to meet me himself, I'm pretty sure he would change his mind about my citizenship.'
Begum said she was groomed and taken advantage of, believing she would be entering an 'Islamic paradise'.
She said: 'People that I was speaking to online they just, they created this image for me over paradise, an Islamic paradise.
'They pressured me very hard into coming. They made me feel bad for wanting to stay in the UK, for wanting to stay with my family who weren't even practising at the time. And they took advantage of me because they knew that I was young.'
Begum claimed she and her Dutch friend Hafida Haddouch could become the latest victims following a spate of tent fires in the Al Roj camp in Syria because they are seen to be less devout than their campmates.
In an exclusive interview she also denied sewing suicide vests for bombers and claimed she can help British security forces crack down on extremists.
Wearing a low-cut pink top, baseball cap and black leggings after ditching her veil last year, Begum said: 'When the first tent fire happened we just got back to normal and then the second fire happened and then we just live in fear constantly.
'In the past few months they have happened more than they've happened in the past few years.'
She also revealed that she thinks she can now be an asset to the UK Government, saying: 'The fight against terrorism is not a one-man job, it's multiple people with multiple skills.'
When asked if she had the skills and experience to help prevent children from being lured into terrorism, Begum replied: 'I do.'
She previously made a jaw-dropping offer to Boris Johnson, who wants her kept out of Britain, saying: 'You are clearly struggling with extremism and terrorism in your country. I could very much help you with that because you clearly don't know what you're doing.
'I want them to see me as an asset rather than a threat to them.'
Shamima Begum: A Faking It Special is available to stream from Saturday 11th December exclusively on discovery+
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