Schoolgirls’ descent into extremism swift and stark

Amira Abase’s Twitter account provides a disturbing insight into her new life after joining Islamic State.

From left, British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum at the security barriers at Gatwick Airport in February en route to Istanbul and Syria.

A schoolgirl from East London who travelled to Syria to become the jihadist bride of an Australian terrorist tweeted earlier this year about the joys of Islamic State “takeaway” food — shared with teenage companions intent on decapitating non-Muslims.

Amira Abase, 15, who fled Bethnal Green with two school friends in February, posted an image of fried chicken and chips to reveal she was living in Islamic State-controlled territory. She shared the meal with a 16-year-old girl who calls herself Um Ayoub and who writes on social media: “Wanna behead some kafirs (non-believers) now.”

Amira’s Twitter account provides a disturbing insight into her new life, as well as her thoughts and influences as she prepared to leave Britain.

It reveals how she drew inspiration from a mentor to Osama bin Laden, pined for marriage, and is obsessed with death and the afterlife.

Amira and two friends from Bethnal Green Academy — Shamima Begum, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16 — left on a Turkish Airlines flight from Gatwick to Istanbul in February. The girls were following a fourth pupil from the same school, Sharmeena Begum, 15, who left to join Islamic State last December.

The girls are believed to be living in Raqqa in Syria, the de facto capital of Islamic State’s caliphate. Amira was married there to notorious Australian Abdullah Elmir, the so-called Ginger Jihadi, who last week was reported to have been killed in a recent bombing raid.

The other two girls are also said to have married Islamic State fighters, a Canadian and a European.

Amira’s postings provide missed clues about her plans to travel to Syria with her friends, such as her desire to learn Arabic quickly. Yet they also include banal tweets typical of any teenager, including ones about her beloved Chelsea FC and seeking advice about what trainers to buy.

Amira’s comments raise questions about what was known in advance by her parents about her radicalisation — in particular, her father, Abase Hussen, who blamed police for failing to stop her joining Islamic State.

Photographs of the friends together — dressed head to toe in black Islamic robes in an East London park — can be seen for the first time on Amira’s Twitter feed, captioned “Akhwaat”, or “sisters” in Arabic.

The day before she departed with Shamima and Kadiza — telling her parents she was going to a wedding — Amira wrote: “We know death is certain but do we even prepare ourselves?”

A preoccupation with her mortality is a recurring theme, as was Amira’s apparent desire to get married. In one tweet at the start of the year, she posted an image of a Muslim couple with the caption: “And He created you in pairs.”

Days earlier, she posted a quote about Muslims and their “enemies” by Abdullah Azzam, the spiritual mentor of bin Laden.

Other radical influences on the teenager include Mizanur Rahman, one of 63 people she follows on Twitter.

Rahman, who was jailed for four years for soliciting murder in 2007, is close to radical cleric Anjem Choudary.

Rahman supports the creation of an Islamic state and his internet sermons are watched by scores of Western jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

Amira’s descent into extremism was swift and stark. A month before she left Britain she was praising Chelsea for “battering” Swansea in the Premier League. Three weeks later, however, she betrayed a complete sense of disillusionment with the West: “I feel I don’t belong in this era.”

Until April, Amira — who tweets under the handle “BinttAbbas” — had privacy settings that allowed only selected followers to view her comments.

But she has now made all her tweets public. A sympathetic Twitter user who said he was praying for Amira and her friends in Syria was given short shrift. Amira dismissed his comments as “prayers from a kafir”.

Her companion, Um Ayoub, who made the comment about beheadings, appears to be part of a wider group of girls and young women who have joined Islamic State from Europe and other Western countries — including up to 100 British jihadist brides.