ISIS bride Shamima Begum is ‘not a victim’, says Home Office
JIHADI bride Shamima Begum is not a “victim” after having her citizenship stripped, the Home Office has argued. Ms Begum, now 20, was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in February 2015, and lived under their rule for more than three years. She was found […]
JIHADI bride Shamima Begum is not a “victim” after having her citizenship stripped, the Home Office has argued.
Ms Begum, now 20, was one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in February 2015, and lived under their rule for more than three years.
She was found living in a “wretched and squalid” Syrian refugee camp while nine-months pregnant in February last year.
Then Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship later that month.
Ms Begum is challenging the Home Office’s decision to take away her citizenship in the Court of Appeal.
Setting out the Home Office’s case on Friday, Sir James Eadie QC said removing someone’s British citizenship was “a highly-valuable weapon” in protecting the safety of the public from people who had been radicalised.
Sir James said: “I fully accept that the position in relation to her (Ms Begum’s) degree of national security threat that she poses, whether or not she has truly recanted and whether or not she left of her own free will… are untested currently.
“But – and it is quite a big but – there has been an assessment by those who are expert and experienced in these matters and it has been considered appropriate and necessary to deprive in her case.”
Sir James said Ms Begum “went to Syria, stayed there for four years, offered herself to and married an (ISIS) fighter and she aligned, in that sense, with (ISIS)”.
Sir James said it would be “entirely wrong” to consider Ms Begum a “victim”.
He said that even though Ms Begum may have now “recanted” her support for ISIS it did not mean there were risks to letting her stay in the UK.
He also argued that imposing an order under the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act on Ms Begum while letting her live in the UK would not be effective.
Sir James concluded that Ms Begum was “deprived of her citizenship for proper and important national security reasons”.
Ms Begum’s lawyers argue that removing her British citizenship took away “the real possibility that she could return to the UK” and exposed her to “the real risk of removal to Bangladesh or Iraq”, where she would face extra-judicial killing or the death penalty.
Tom Hickman QC also pointed out that Ms Begum was only 15 when she left the UK, adding: “The only things that are clear are that Shamima Begum was a child when she left the UK and had been influenced to do so.”
Ms Begum took legal action against the Home Office and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in an attempt to keep her British citizenship last year.
Her claim failed as it was found that she was a citizen of Bangladesh and therefore not left stateless by having her British citizenship taken off her.
The tribunal also found that Ms Begum “cannot play any meaningful part in her appeal and that, to that extent, the appeal will not be fair and effective”, but ruled that “it does not follow that her appeal succeeds”.
Ms Begum’s challenge against the Home Office’s decision to refuse to allow her to enter the UK to fight for her citizenship was also rejected.
She is now arguing that it is unfair for her to have her citizenship stripped without being able to appeal it – claiming it should immediately be restored.
Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join IS, shortly after Sharmeena Begum, who is no relation, travelled to Syria in December 2014.
Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, and Ms Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.
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Ms Begum claims she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, with all three of her schoolfriends also reportedly marrying foreign IS fighters.
She told the Times last February that she left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had both since died. Her third child died shortly after he was born.
The hearing before Lord Justice Flaux, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh is due to conclude on Friday and it is expected that the court will reserve its judgment.