In 2015, a 15-year-old East London girl left for Syria with two of her friends to live in the so-called Caliphate. After Shamima Begum was captured in a refugee camp in 2019, the British public was enraged by her attitude that she’d done nothing wrong and for downplaying the violence committed by ISIS.

Journalist Josh Baker traveled to Syria to interview the evasive prisoner, then retraced her steps to fact check her story - that she went to the Caliphate to practice fundamentalism, not to become an ISIS soldier.  

BBC Sounds and Radio 5 Live present season two of “I’m Not a Monster: The Shamima Begum Story.” Josh Baker explores war ravaged Syria to discover the network which smuggled her into ISIS territory, examine her life as a soldier's bride in the Caliphate, and confirm whether or not the British teen was an active combatant against Coalition forces. The host repeatedly risks his safety to answer the simple question: should Shamima be believed?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "I'M NOT A MONSTER" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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