EXCLUSIVE: The court’s ruling has sparked a backlash from human rights lawyers and professors who believe Shamima Begum should be judged in Britain
Human rights lawyers have slammed the court’s decision to reject Shamima Begum’s appeal, describing the Government’s attitude toward her as “offensive” and “appalling”. The ISIS bride lost an appeal against the Home Office’s decision to remove her British citizenship at the special immigration appeals commission (Siac) on Wednesday in a longstanding judicial battle over her right to return to Britain. Judges described the case as a matter of “great concern and difficulty”, insisting there were “credible suspicions” that the 23-year-old was trafficked into Syria aged 15 for sexual exploitation.
But the Commission concluded the decision over Ms. Begum’s fate was not theirs to make and ultimately fell under the Home Secretary’s remit.
Human Rights lawyer Shoaib M Khan told Express.co.uk the ruling was “disappointing” as Ms. Begum is still stuck in a camp in northern Syria.
He said: “It is offensive and appalling that the British government’s response to a British child being trafficked to a war zone for the purposes of sexual exploitation was to revoke her British citizenship and leave her permanently stranded there.”
Ms. Begum has sought to return to Britain since February 2019 when the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British citizenship after she was found in a refugee camp in north-east Syria.
In the same month that she began seeking a return to Britain, Ms. Begum said there was “justification” for the Manchester Arena terrorist slaughter of 22 concert-goers. She has since apologised for the remarks, but doubts remain as to her true views on the bombing.
The 23-year-old left Bethnal Green in East London to join ISIS aged 15 in 2015 and stayed with the militant Islamist group for three years, but denies accusations that she stitched terrorists into suicide vests.
Mr Javid said at the time he made the decision to bar her from Britain based on information from intelligence agencies and insisted it was “absolutely the right decision to protect the British people”, without giving further details.
His successor Priti Patel also ruled out Ms Begum’s return, telling The Sun: “Our job is to keep our country safe. We don’t need people who have done harm and left our country to be part of a death cult and to perpetuate that ideology.”
The current Home Secretary Suella Braverman has stuck with the Government’s decision to revoke her citizenship on national security grounds.