Tareena Shakil guilty of joining IS

Tareena Shakil, who took her toddler
son to Syria, has been found guilty of
membership of so-called Islamic State.
The 26-year-old is the first British woman to
return from the self-declared caliphate to be
convicted of the offence.
Shakil, of Birmingham, has also been found
guilty of encouraging acts of terrorism through
messages posted on Twitter. She denied the
charges.
She had admitted travelling to Syria.
But following a two-week trial at Birmingham
Crown Court, the jury rejected her claim that
she had only wished to live under Sharia law.
'Martyr' wish
The jury was shown her tweets, messages and
photographs, including images of the black flag
of IS and passages calling on people to "take
up arms".
She had also stated her wish to become a
"martyr".
Shakil posed her son for pictures wearing an
IS-branded balaclava after secretly running
away to Syria in October 2014.
She told the court it was because he "loved
hats".
Her defence team maintained she went to Syria
with the toddler to escape an "unhappy family
life".
An NSPCC spokesman said: "It is inconceivable
that a mother would be willing to put her child
in such a dangerous situation, potentially
exposing him to harm and even death."
Shakil left IS territory in January 2015.
Her defence said she was unhappy in Syria and
she told the court: "I came back of my own free
will. I came back because I realised I had made a mistake"