International | How a schoolgirl was radicalised

Shamima’s list

Before leaving Britain, Shamima Begum followed 74 Twitter accounts, overwhelmingly to do with Islam. Some quoted the Koran or retweeted stories of alleged atrocities by Western troops in the Middle East. Others spread gory photos of dead Islamic State fighters with prayers that Allah “accept our brother”, or jihadist sites that respond to fans’ requests, such as “Describe your ideal wife”.

Ms Begum’s timeline shows how Twitter led her to Syria. Her only tweet made contact with a go-between in the region. The most frequent hashtags recently in her feed (11,000 tweets) related to Islam; mostly to Islamist extremism. Innocent pieties, such as #Islam or #SahabahNights (which expresses comradeship with the Prophet), appeared less often.

This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline "Shamima’s list"

Planet of the phones

From the February 28th 2015 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Narendra Modi’s secret weapon: India’s diaspora

Migrants help campaign for the prime minister at home and lobby for the country abroad

Why young men and women are drifting apart

Diverging worldviews could affect politics, families and more


We’re hiring a global correspondent

An opportunity to join our editorial staff in London