Shamima Begum: Woman who joined IS loses appeal over citizenship removal

Shamima Begum, a British-born woman, who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State, lost her latest appeal against the removal of her British citizenship, but her lawyers vowed to keep fighting and said the case was “nowhere near over”.

The British government took away Shamima Begum’s citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.

Her latest appeal against that decision was dismissed on Wednesday by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission – a specialist tribunal which hears appeals against decisions to remove citizenship on national security grounds – on Wednesday.

Speaking outside court, her lawyer Daniel Furner told reporters: “We will be challenging the decision”.

Shamima Begum would have to take the case directly to the Court of Appeal in London if she wishes to challenge Wednesday’s decision, according to legislation which covers the tribunal.

A spokesperson for Britain’s interior ministry, the Home Office, welcomed the ruling.

“The government’s priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and we will robustly defend any decision made in doing so,” the spokesperson added.

Begum, who is currently being held in the al-Roj detention camp in north-eastern Syria, argued that the Home Office failed to investigate whether she was a “child victim of trafficking”.

Judge Robert Jay found there was a “credible suspicion” that Begum was trafficked to Syria for the purposes of “sexual exploitation”.

He also said there were arguably “state failures” in relation to Begum’s journey from London to Syria via Turkey in 2015.

But the judge ruled that a finding that Begum may have been trafficked was not enough for her appeal to succeed.

Begum’s lawyers had also argued that her entry into Syria was “facilitated by a Canadian agent” working for Islamic State – an allegation which first emerged in 2015.

The British government, which argued that assistance with travel was typical for many of those who went to Syria, said the agent had “played no role in encouraging Ms Begum to travel”, according to the tribunal’s ruling.

But Jay said it was a “sensible inference” that any people who helped Shamima Begum and her friends travel to Syria were also encouraging them to make the journey.

Government lawyers argued that Begum had aligned with the Islamic State militant group and stayed in IS-held territory for four years until the collapse of the so-called caliphate in 2019.