On Wednesday, the UK Supreme Court dismissed Shamima Begum’s 24-year-old woman appeal challenging the stripping of her British citizenship. Leaving London in 2015 at 15 with two friends from school, Begum went to Syria where she became an ISIS fighter and gave birth to three children who all died as infants.
The British government revoked Begum’s nationality on national security grounds in 2019 after it found her detained in a Syrian camp, according to Parami News report. Arguing that it was illegal and no consideration had been given by them whether she was a victim of trafficking, she contested this decision. Yet, her claims were rejected by a specialist tribunal in February 2023 and again by the courts of appeal.
According to an Parami News report, Begum said that the action made her stateless in February 2019. In February 2023, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) upheld its decision to strip her of citizenship. This led Begum’s lawyers to seek redress at the Court of Appeal because they claimed that the government had violated its legal obligations towards her as a potential trafficking victim. However, this court noted that overriding reasons as national security allow for deprivation even though there existed no case of statelessness since Bangladesh is still available through motherhood.
“Influenced” along with friends by “determined and effective” ‘propaganda machine’ IS group–Begum’s lawyer argued during SIAC hearing. The appeal court ruled that while Begum “may well have been influenced and manipulated by others”, she could also have made a “calculated decision to travel to Syria”.
About nine hundred are thought to have travelled from Britain to ISIS-controlled areas in Iraq or Syria—government figures estimate—and around one hundred fifty among them may have received deportation warrants. In March, UN experts called on UK authorities for Begun repatriation.
