Danny Dyer has joined the on-going debate about Isis teen bride Shamima Begum – saying the teenager should be allowed back into the UK.
The EastEnders star said the runaway schoolgirl must have been “lost within her soul” to travel to Syria from the UK in 2015, when she was just 15 years old.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Danny said that Begum, now 19, must have had “no guidance” when she made the decision to leave the UK.
He added: “Clearly, because if you think about it … How has it got into her head that going to Syria at 15 years of age is the answer, when she lives in this country?”
He continued: “What is that about? So who’s there to guide her, talk to her?
“Why is she so lost within her soul that she thinks that’s the answer, to go to Syria?”
Danny, who plays Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in the BBC soap, went on to state his belief Begum should be allowed to return to the UK so we can “learn” from it.
He told hosts Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway: “I feel she needs a chance, maybe to explain what was going on and maybe we can understand a little bit more about how they got to her and how she felt it was the right move to jump on a plane and leave this country at 15 years of age.
“She is still a young girl – who was looking after her? Maybe we can learn from it.”
When Richard said Begum would not have gone to Syria without the internet, Danny replied: “We’ve all got the internet, Rich. Are you thinking of going to Syria? Seriously.”
Begum made the front pages last week when she revealed she was hoping to return to the UK so she and her baby, who has since been born, could be looked after.
Speaking on Sunday with her newborn baby at her side following the controversy, Begum told Sky News: “I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I’ve been through, you know I didn’t know what I was getting into when I left, I just was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back.
“Because I can’t live in this camp forever. It’s not really possible.”
Asked to respond to comments that she could be potentially very dangerous if she returned, she said: “They don’t have any evidence against me doing anything dangerous. When I went to Syria I was just a housewife, the entire four years I stayed at home, took care of my husband, took care of my kids, I never did anything… I never made propaganda, I never encouraged people to come to Syria.
“They don’t really have proof that I did anything that is dangerous.”
She said she knew there would be restriction on her if she returned, but added that he child is her “biggest priority”.
There is currently fierce debate among politicians over her proposed return to the UK, with Home Secretary Sajid Javid saying he would “not hesitate” to block it, while culture secretary Jeremy Wright has claimed that Britain is “obliged” to take back its citizens.
Justice Secretary David Gauke added “we can’t make people stateless”.