Isis jihadi bride Kadiza Sultana 'abandoned efforts to escape Syria after Austrian girl beaten to death'
Kadiza's family said they tried to help her escape but could not get her out before she was killed
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Your support makes all the difference.“I don’t have a good feeling, I feel scared.” Those were Kadiza Sultana’s words to her sister as she plotted her escape from Isis in Syria.
But the 17-year-old never managed to leave the terrorist group’s territory, being killed in a suspected Russian air strike in May.
Her family said she quickly became disillusioned with life as a jihadi bride in the so-called Islamic State and told them she wanted to get out.
They discussed plans to get a taxi and be smuggled out of Isis’ de-facto capital of Raqqa and into Turkey but as the border closed and restrictions increased, Kadiza’s hopes dwindled.
“You know if something goes wrong, that's it. I will never be with you,” she told her sister Halima Khanom in a phone call filmed by ITV News.
“You know the borders are closed right now, so how am I going to get out?”
When Ms Khanom asked her what she felt her chances of escape were, her sister replied: “Zero.”
The family’s lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, said Kadiza became too frightened to attempt leaving Isis after another young jihadi bride was murdered.
Samra Kesinovic, a 17-year-old Austrian, became a poster girl for the terrorist group after joining them in 2014 but was reportedly beaten to death when she was caught trying to escape last year.
“We know she was influenced by it,” Mr Akunjee told The Independent. "She was considering leaving in earnest and that’s when the incident took place.
"It’s something she talked about, she wanted confirmation it was true and then she didn’t want to entertain the idea of taking that risk."
Kadiza was just 16 when she travelled to Syria with two friends from Bethnal Green Academy in London, Shamima Begum and Amira Abase.
Their families and the police made desperate appeals for them to return home after they disappeared over the school Easter holidays in 2015.
They were believed to have been married off to Isis fighters almost immediately, but Kadiza’s husband – an American national of Somali origin – was killed.
The girls were most probably radicalised by Isis propaganda on the internet and travelled out of the UK and onwards to Syria via Turkey untroubled, sparking criticism of the security forces and the Government’s anti-radicalisation strategy.
They are among more than 800 British citizens believed to have joined Isis and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.
At least half are believed to have returned and there are fears that some could be used to carry out terror attacks.
Isis has suffered a wave of recent defeats, losing control of cities including Manbij in Syria and Fallujah in Iraq, prompting a crackdown on defectors.
Raqqa is expected to be the next key target of military operations, with at least 20 civilians reported dead in another round of Russian air strikes on Thursday.
Anti-Isis activists in Raqqa have reported public executions of people accused of trying to smuggle people out of the group’s territories in the past month.
A former Isis fighter who grew up in London told The Independent he met several foreign recruits, including British militants, who were desperate to escape.
Harry Sarfo, who risked his life to flee Raqqa last year and was jailed after returning to Germany in July 2015, said others had been jailed or killed.
“Many have tried (to flee) but they are either dead or in jail waiting for executions,” he said. “Among them are a handful of British citizens. I spoke to some of them who wanted to leave – many say it is impossible.
“When you make it, you will get a life sentence in jail. Many have already been involved in fighting so they said there is no hope for them.”