February 23, 2023
2 mins read

Shamima loses appeal over loss of British citizenship

In 2015, Begum — who is now 23 years old — traveled to Syria when she was 15, along with two other girls from London, to marry Daesh fighters…reports Asian Lite News

Shamima Begum, who left Britain as a teenager to join Daesh, lost her appeal against the British government’s decision to remove her citizenship.

Begum and two other east London schoolgirls left Britain for Syria in early 2015 to join the IS. They married jihadi fighters and lived under Daesh rule.

She was stripped of her British citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a displacement camp in Syria. Begum, now 23, is living in a refugee camp controlled by armed guards in northern Syria.

Begum’s lawyers challenged the citizenship removal at a hearing in London in November, when they argued that Britain’s Home Office did not formally assess whether she was a victim of trafficking before putting her in “exile for life”.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a specialist tribunal that deals with appeals against the British government’s decisions over refusing or removing British citizenship, dismissed Begum’s appeal on Wednesday.

Announcing the tribunal’s decision, Judge Robert Jay said there was a “credible suspicion” that Begum was trafficked to Syria for sexual exploitation as a child and that there were “arguable breaches of duty” by state bodies that failed to stop her from leaving Britain, but these factors are insufficient for her appeal to succeed.

In 2015, Begum — who is now 23 years old — traveled to Syria when she was 15, along with two other girls from London, to marry Daesh fighters.

Thousands of fighters from all over the world, swelled the terror group’s ranks, with many renouncing their nationalities and opting to remain in the self-styled caliphate the terror group established in the territory it controlled at the time.

SPECIAL: Shamima needs to show humility and condemn ISIS

However, when Daesh was defeated in 2019, and thousands of its fighters and families were captured, the challenge of what to do with them emerged. Many, like Begum, remain in camps in northern Syria.

In the same year, then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid, decided to revoke her citizenship after she was found in the Al Hol detention camp in Syria. Begum had given birth to three children, all of whom died.

Begum and others in her position, have been the source of debate as to what to do with people of various nationalities who joined the terror group when it was capturing vast swathes of territory in northern Syria and Iraq.

ALSO READ-Rising number of Indians renouncing citizenship, 2.25 lakh in 2022

READ MORE-‘Revocation of British Citizenship: Shamima Begum’

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