‘ISIS Bride’ Shamima Begum Loses Appeal Against UK Citizenship Removal

Joy ChukwuFebruary 23, 20242 Mins read145

Following a five-day hearing in November, Shamima Begum, who left the United Kingdom to join ISIS at the age of 15, has lost her latest appeal against the removal of her UK citizenship.

Ruling on the case on Wednesday, the court stated:

“We unanimously dismiss the appeal. It could be argued that the decision in Miss Begum’s case was harsh. It could also be argued that Miss Begum is the author of her own misfortune.”

However, her lawyers have vowed to keep fighting, stating that the case was far from over.

Shamima Begum’s Case

Begum, now 24, was a British-born national who fled to Syria in the company of two other schoolgirls when she was I5. Over there, she joined the ISIS terror group after she married an ISIS fighter and bore him two kids who died in infancy.

Garnering international attention as an “ISIS bride”, Begum resurfaced in February 2019 when she pleaded with the UK government to allow her to return to her home country for the birth of her son.

However, Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship on February 19, 2019, on grounds of national security.

Begum challenged the UK government’s decision to strip her of citizenship; however, in June 2019, her request to enter the country to pursue her appeal was denied by the government.

In 2020, the Court of Appeal’s panel of three judges ruled that Begum should return to the UK to challenge the revocation of her citizenship, asserting that a fair hearing wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Later, in 2021, the Supreme Court determined that while Begum had the right to contest the decision to revoke her citizenship, she must pursue it from outside the UK due to “security concerns.”

Accusing the UK’s Home Office, the Ministry of Interior, in 2023, of neglecting to investigate whether she had been a “child victim of trafficking”, Begum’s lawyers challenged the removal of her citizenship at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), arguing that the decision was unlawful.

However, SIAC ruled that despite the credible suspicion that Ms. Begum was a victim of trafficking and sexual exploitation, this did not prevent the Home Secretary from revoking her British citizenship, as she had become perceived as a threat.

Daniel Furner, Begum’s lawyer, stated after the decision that:

“The implication, the outcome, that we face is that no British child who has been trafficked outside the UK will be protected by the British state if the home secretary invokes national security.”

According to CNN, the Wednesday 2024 ruling does not determine if Begum can return to Britain, but whether the removal of her citizenship was lawful.