Shamima Begum loses appeal against decision to remove UK citizenship

ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo reports on Shamima Begum’s legal fight over the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship

Shamima Begum has lost an appeal against the decision to remove her British citizenship.

Ms Begum was 15 years old in 2015 when she and two other east London schoolgirls travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

Her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds by then-home secretary Sajid Javid shortly after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.

She has been locked in a legal battle with the government ever since. Recently, Ms Begum brought a challenge against the Home Office over this decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), a specialist tribunal which hears challenges to decisions to remove someone’s British citizenship on national security grounds.

On Wednesday morning, Mr Justice Jay gave the decision that Ms Begum had lost her appeal.

He said: “The commission has fully recognised the considerable force in the submissions advanced on behalf of Ms Begum that the Secretary of State’s conclusion, on expert advice, that Ms Begum travelled voluntarily to Syria is as stark as it is unsympathetic.

“Further, there is some merit in the argument that those advising the Secretary of State see this as a black and white issue, when many would say that there are shades of grey.”

He continued: “If asked to evaluate all the circumstances of Ms Begum’s case, reasonable people with knowledge of all the relevant evidence will differ, in particular in relation to the issue of the extent to which her travel to Syria was voluntary and the weight to be given to that factor in the context of all others.

“Likewise, reasonable people will differ as to the threat she posed in February 2019 to the national security of the United Kingdom, and as to how that threat should be balanced against all countervailing considerations.

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“However, under our constitutional settlement these sensitive issues are for the Secretary of State to evaluate and not for the commission.”

During a five-day hearing in November, Ms Begum’s lawyers said the Home Office had a duty to investigate whether she was a victim of trafficking before stripping her of her British citizenship.

The specialist tribunal heard she was “recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of "sexual exploitation" and "marriage" to an "adult male”.

At a previous hearing in February 2020, SIAC ruled the decision to remove her British citizenship was lawful as Ms Begum was “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent” at the time of the decision.

However, her barristers said in November the decision made Ms Begum “de facto stateless”, where she had no practical right to citizenship in Bangladesh, with Bangladeshi authorities stating they would not allow her into the country.

Barristers for the Home Office defended the government’s decision, arguing that people trafficked to Syria and brainwashed can still be threats to national security.

They also added Ms Begum expressed no remorse when she initially emerged from IS-controlled territory.

On Wednesday, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission concluded there was a “credible suspicion” that Ms Begum was trafficked to Syria for “sexual exploitation” and that there were “arguable breaches of duty” by state bodies in allowing her to travel to the country. But Mr Justice Jay said in a summary of the commission’s decision that the existence of this suspicion was “insufficient” for her to succeed on her arguments that the deprivation of her British citizenship failed to respect her human rights. He added that given Ms Begum was now in Syria, the Home Secretary was not compelled to facilitate her return nor stopped from using “deprivation powers”.

Reacting to the ruling, a Home Office spokeswoman said: “We are pleased that the court has found in favour of the government’s position in this case. “The government’s priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and we will robustly defend any decision made in doing so.”

Last year, ITV News heard of Ms Begum's despair at being left 'stateless'.

In messages smuggled out of the camp where she is staying, Ms Begum described her recovery from the trauma of losing three babies, saying: “I’ve moved on from that part of my life, it doesn’t make me feel sad anymore".

ITV News also learnt that Ms Begum was selling food parcels to pay for hair dye and western clothes to distance herself from Islamic State supporters in the camp.

While Ms Begum is alive and living in syria, the two girls she travelled from the UK with, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, are feared dead.

Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green but not related to Shamima, had travelled to Syria two months earlier. Her fate is not widely known.