Shamima Begum has lost a legal challenge over the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship.
Ms Begum was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey and into territory controlled by the so-called Islamic State (IS). Her British citizenship was revoked shortly after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
The now 23-year-old brought a challenge against the Home Office over this decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), a specialist tribunal which hears challenges to decisions to remove someone's British citizenship on national security grounds. Following a five-day hearing in November, the tribunal dismissed her challenge on Wednesday.
At the hearing last year, Ms Begum's barristers Samantha Knights KC and Dan Squires KC said she was "recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of 'sexual exploitation' and 'marriage' to an adult male". They also argued that the Home Office unlawfully failed to consider that she travelled to Syria and remained there "as a victim of child trafficking".
However, Sir James Eadie KC, for the department, said the security services "continue to assess that Ms Begum poses a risk to national security". Sir James later said then-home secretary Sajid Javid took into account Ms Begum's age, how she travelled to Syria - including likely online radicalisation - and her activity in the country, when deciding to remove her British citizenship.
Giving the decision of the tribunal, Mr Justice Jay said that "reasonable people will differ" over the circumstances of Shamima Begum's case. However, he concluded that the court could not reverse the Government's decision.
He said: "The commission has fully recognised the considerable force in the submissions advanced on behalf of Ms Begum that the Secretary of State's conclusion, on expert advice, that Ms Begum travelled voluntarily to Syria is as stark as it is unsympathetic. Further, there is some merit in the argument that those advising the Secretary of State see this as a black and white issue, when many would say that there are shades of grey."
He continued: "If asked to evaluate all the circumstances of Ms Begum's case, reasonable people with knowledge of all the relevant evidence will differ, in particular in relation to the issue of the extent to which her travel to Syria was voluntary and the weight to be given to that factor in the context of all others.
"Likewise, reasonable people will differ as to the threat she posed in February 2019 to the national security of the United Kingdom, and as to how that threat should be balanced against all countervailing considerations. However, under our constitutional settlement these sensitive issues are for the Secretary of State to evaluate and not for the commission."
The Home Office have said they are "pleased" the court has ruled against Shamima Begum, with a spokeswoman telling the PA news agency: "We are pleased that the court has found in favour of the Government's position in this case. The Government's priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and we will robustly defend any decision made in doing so."
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK's refugee and migrant rights director said the ruling was "very disappointing," adding: "The Home Secretary shouldn't be in the business of exiling British citizens by stripping them of their citizenship. The power to banish a citizen like this simply shouldn't exist in the modern world, not least when we're talking about a person who was seriously exploited as a child.
"Shamima Begum had lived all her life in the UK right up to the point she was lured to Syria as an impressionable 15-year-old. Isis (so-called Islamic State) 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.
"Along with thousands of others, including large numbers of women and children, this young British woman is now trapped in a dangerous refugee camp in a war-torn country and left largely at the mercy of gangs and armed groups. Just as other nations have done, the UK should be helping any of its citizens stranded in Syria - including by assisting in their safe return to the UK, whether or not that means facing possible criminal investigation or prosecution."
The Mirror reports that Ms Begum left the UK in 2015 with two school friends, and later married notorious IS hardliner Dutch national Yago Riedijk, 27, aged just 15 and had three children with him who all later died. She was discovered in 2019 by Times journalist Anthony Lloyd.
Following the revelation she was alive, the Home Office stripped her of her citizenship after being deemed a threat to the nation. Begum has remained at a camp in Syria since, describing the conditions as “worse than prison” because there is no time limit to the length of her detention.
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