'ISIS bride' Shamima Begum was 'child victim of trafficking', UK tribunal told

Shamima Begum, the girl who left the United Kingdom in 2015 to join Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, may have been 'a victim of human trafficking for sexual exploitation', UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission was told by Begum's lawyer on Monday.

Begum’s lawyer Samantha Knights KC told the tribunal that her client had been the victim of a “determined Islamic State propaganda machine”, which she said, lured Shamima Begum to Syria in 2015 when she was a 15-year-old.

Shamima Begum's UK citizenship was revoked by the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid in 2019 on the grounds concerning 'national security'. The UK Home Office continues to identify Shamima Begum (now 23) as an individual who continues to pose a threat to the national security.

Begum's lawyer argues that she had been a trafficking victim and the former Home Secretary Sajid Javid had acted 'hastily' in removing her passport in 2019.

"Trafficked by Canadian spy"

Tasnime Akunjee, the Begum family lawyer, had earlier told AFP that the tribunal's hearing would be centred around whether she was "considered a victim of trafficking, notably whether the then home secretary (Sajid Javid) turned his mind to those issues when making the decision to strip her of citizenship".

A book published earlier this year by journalist Richard Kerbaj alleged that Begum and her friends were taken into Syria by a Syrian man who was leaking information to the Canadian security services.

WATCH |Book claims spy for Canada smuggled Shamima Begum, 2 other schoolgirls to Syria

Mohammed Al-Rashed is alleged to have been in charge of the Turkish side of an extensive IS people smuggling network.

"It is now fairly well settled that she and her friends were transported across borders by a Canadian asset of the Canadian security forces," Akunjee said.

"The very definition of trafficking is pretty well established by that," he added. Despite her initial comments, Begum has since expressed remorse for her actions and sympathy for IS victims.

ALSO READ |New citizenship law has reduced British Muslims to second-class citizens: Think tank

Some 900 people are estimated to have travelled from Britain to Syria and Iraq to join the IS group. Of those, around 150 are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship.

Human rights group Reprieve told AFP there were currently 20-25 British families, including 36 children, still in camps in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, where suspected relatives of ISIS terrorists have been held.

Other European nations have also been grappling with how to handle the return of their own nationals.

(With inputs from agencies)

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