UK digs heels in after Trump's terror chief says ISIS members in Syria should be allowed home
Since Sajid Javid wrote his letter to Shamima Begum’s family, informing them of his decision to revoke her British citizenship, seven Home Secretaries have come and gone.
Her case has wound its way through the courts on multiple occasions - last year, she lost her final appeal against the Home Office’s decision.
All the while, the British government’s stance has remained almost unmoved as time passed and while lawyers scrutinised.
“It’s kind of heart-breaking,” she told me in 2019, as I showed her the letter in the refugee camp in northeast Syria where she was detained. The newborn baby she clutched during our interview died just days later.
Pressure from within the UK has been a key driver of government policy on Begum and others like her, officials admit.
A 2022 poll conducted by YouGov found that two-thirds (68%) of respondents believed the government should be allowed to revoke her citizenship, reflecting widespread public support for the decision.
Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo interviewed Shamima Begum in a refugee camp in 2019
But voices of objection abroad are growing louder. In a new interview with The Times, Sebastian Gorka, Donald Trump’s incoming counter-terrorism chief, sharply criticised the UK government’s approach.
He argued that any country that wants to be a “serious ally” has a responsibility to repatriate its citizens who joined ISIS - not out of moral objection to the current policy, but because of the national security risks posed by leaving them in camps or prisons in the region.
This view aligns with the previous Trump administration’s stance: that abandoning foreign fighters to Kurdish-controlled facilities poses long-term threats to global security.
What has shifted, however, is the context. The fall of the Assad regime and growing uncertainty over the ability of US-backed Kurdish forces to maintain control of these facilities have heightened concerns over regional stability.
While Gorka’s critique is grounded in security calculations, it echoes the arguments of human rights campaigners who advocate for repatriation on entirely different grounds.
Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.
Similarly, Jonathan Hall KC, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, has questioned the efficacy of the government’s approach.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy responded to the latest calls on Thursday morning, saying Britain would refuse any demand to take back Begum or any other Isis members with UK links still being held in Syria.
Lammy said: "Shamima Begum will not be coming back to the UK. It has gone right through the courts, she is not a UK national and we will not be bringing her back to the UK. We are really clear about that."
"We will act in our security interest and many of those in the camps are dangerous, are radicals."
Begum, once the 15-year-old schoolgirl who left London for Syria during a February half-term, is now a 25-year-old woman.
Her lawyers argue that she was a victim of grooming and exploitation, thrust into the role of a divisive symbol in a complex legal and diplomatic issue.
Like dozens of other former British citizens, she remains trapped in the limbo of northeast Syria.
While nations such as the United States have begun to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who joined ISIS, the UK’s policy endures, sustained in part by domestic politics.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know