Explained | UK: Shamima Begum who left to join ISIS loses citizenship bid. Here’s what happened

Shamima Begum, who left the United Kingdom’s city of London to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria as a schoolgirl approximately eight years ago, on Wednesday (February 22), lost her appeal against the decision to revoke her British citizenship. She left the UK as a 15-year-old with her two friends who have reportedly passed away in two separate incidents. In 2019, Begum was stripped of her British citizenship by then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid as a national security risk.

Who is Shamima Begum?

The now 23-year-old was born in Londonto parents of Bangladeshi heritage, Begum left for Syria to join ISIS in 2015. She was reported to be the first woman to leave the UK to join the terrorist organisation two years later, as per Sky News. Begum who was attending the Bethnal Green Academy and resided in eastern London was reportedly radicalised by someone called Aqsa Mahmood.

During an interview, Renu Begum, Shamima's elder sister holds a picture of her in 2015. (File Photo: AFP)

She went on to marry an IS fighter and gave birth to three children all of whom died as infants. Begum is currently living in northern Syria’s Roj camp which is run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Her case made international headlines in 2019 after she was found in a displacement camp by a journalist as an “ISIS bride”.

At the time she was nine months pregnant and urged the UK government to allow her to return to her home country to give birth to her child, as per media reports. However, her citizenship was revoked by the home secretary and Begum has since challenged the decision.

The recent verdict

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), rejected Begum’s appeal. Judge Robert Jay, of the commission which hears appeals against decisions to remove citizenship on national security grounds, gave the decision after a five-day hearing in November. In the previous hearing, Begum’s lawyers had argued that it was the home office’s duty to investigate whether she was a victim of trafficking before revoking her citizenship.

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Justice Jay, who wrote the judgment published on Wednesday saidthe commission finds “credible suspicion" thatBegum had been trafficked to Syria for “sexual exploitation”. However, this reason was deemed “insufficient” for them to conclude that the home secretary’s decision was unlawful. The ruling also means that she would be barred from entering the UK from Syria, as per BBC.

The SIAC judge also said that the officials in London are seeing this as a “black and white issue” and the government’s witnesses’ evidence to the tribunal “betrayed an all-or-nothing approach”. Whereas, the commission was concerned about the security services’ “apparent downplaying of the significance of radicalisation and grooming, in stating that what happened to Ms Begum is not unusual”, said Justice Jay.

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The SIACconcluded that there were “arguable breaches of duty on the part of various State bodies” which allowed Begum to leave the country, said Jay, in a summary of the judgement.

“This secretary of state, speaking through Sir James (Eadie KC), maintains that national security is a weighty factor and that it would take a very strong countervailing case to outweigh it,” said the SIAC judge.

He added, “However, under our constitutional settlement these sensitive issues are for the secretary of state to evaluate and not for the commission.” Notably, the commission does not have the power to rule ifBegum is allowed to return to the UK, even if it found that her citizenship should not have been stripped.

“Nowhere near over”: Begum’s legal team

In a statement, Begum’s lawyers, Gareth Pierce and Daniel Furner, of Birnberg Pierce Solicitors criticised the ruling and called it a “lost opportunity” to reverse the “profound mistake and a continuing injustice”. They added, “The outcome is that there is now no protection for a British child trafficked out of the UK if the home secretary invokes national security,” as per media reports.

Begum’s lawyers also called her “indefinite detention” in Syria, “unlawful and arbitrary”. According to the BBC, they said the case was “nowhere near over” and the decision will be challenged.

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At the five-day hearing, last year, her attorneys asserted that she was “recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of 'sexual exploitation' and 'marriage' to an adult male”.

The attorneys argued that the British officials failed to recognise that Begum was a “victim of child trafficking” when she travelled to Syria and remained there.

An argument was recently found “insufficient” by the SIAC which led to the dismissal ofher appeal on all nine grounds. The British-born, 23-year-old is also said to hold Bangladeshi citizenship through her father, as per media reports, However, would be hanged if she returns to the country which has effectively left her stateless, her lawyers had said in November.

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During the previous hearing, attorney Eadie KC representing the secretary of state to the SIAC also said, “You can be trafficked in the most ghastly, unacceptable way, exposed in the most unacceptable way, desensitised in the most unacceptable way and yet, unfortunately...still be a security threat,” reported Sky News.

UK Home Office welcomes the decision

A UK Home Office spokesperson said that they were “pleased” with the judgement and added, “The government’s priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and we will robustly defend any decision made in doing so,” as per British media reports.

Amnesty International UK calls the verdict “very disappointing”

In a statement following the judgement, the UK-based rights group Amnesty International called the decision “very disappointing” and argued that Begum had stayed in London before she was “lured to Syria” as an impressionable 15-year-old. They added, “ISIS have been responsible for appalling crimes in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, but that doesn’t change that Shamima Begum is British and was groomed and trafficked to Syria.”

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Furthermore, the rights organisation criticising the home secretary said “exiling British citizens by stripping them of their citizenship,” should not be their business. The power to banish citizens should not exist in the modern world, particularly in the context of a “person who was seriously exploited as a child,” said Amnesty International.

Shamima Begum’s story: A time of key events

2015-16

Shamima Begum along with her two friends,Abase (15) and Sultana (16) dropped out of school at the age of 15 and travelled from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul in Turkiye, before crossing the border into Syria. According to media reports, the girls stole their family’s jewellery to pay for their flights.

CCTV pictures show (L-R) British teenagers Sultana, Abase and Begum passing through security barriers at Gatwick Airport, UK (File Photo: AFP)


Begum claims that while in Syria she married a Dutch IS fighter, Yago Riedijk and had three children (two sons and one daughter) all of whom died as infants. The now 23-year-old is said to be an “enforcer” who recruited other women to the caliphate, reported Sky News. In 2016, Begum’s two friends Abase and Sultana were reportedly killed.

Sultana had married a Somalian IS fighter, her family told ITV while Abase was reportedly married to an Australian IS fighter but this has not been confirmed.

2019

After 2016 Begum’s actions and whereabouts remained unknown until a Times journalist found her at a displacement camp in Syria, three years later. Reportedly, at the time she had fled the village of Baghuz which was witnessing intense fighting during the terrorist group’s last stand. Begum with her husband had three children, two of whom died of disease or malnutrition and the third died in the al-Hawl camp.

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In February, the now-former UK home secretary stripped Begum of her British citizenship, while Bangladeshi officials say that if she returns she will face the death penalty for her involvement in terrorism. Furthermore, they had also said that since she has never visited Dhaka, Begum does not hold dual citizenship, reported Al Jazeera. In April, she was granted legal aid by the Ministry of Justice to appeal the decision.

2020

The then 20-year-old was allowed to return to the UK by the Court of Appeal and contest the decision.

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2021

The Supreme Court blocked Begum’s appeal to return to the UK after British officials said that she “would create significant national security risks” and expose the citizens to an “increased risk of terrorism”.

2022

In November, the aforementioned five-day trial takes place where Begum attempts to win the right to return to London. However, a unanimous judgement by the SIAC barred her from coming to the UK based on three preliminary grounds which included that the revocation of her citizenship was not unlawful.

(With inputs from agencies)