Depriving a former jihadi bride of her British citizenship is a form of capital punishment that has left her “the breathing dead,” a senior Labour peer has told Parliament.
Tackling the Home Office minister on the situation faced by Shamima Begum—who was stripped of her British identity by the UK government in 2019—Lord Griffiths said leaving the 23-year-old in Syria was “inhumane.”
Former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont also raised fears that stripping alleged militants of their British citizenship and leaving them in refugee camps rather than bringing them back to face trial threatens to create a “breeding ground of terrorists tomorrow.”
The comments were made during oral questions in Parliament on Monday afternoon.
Lord Griffiths said, “Statelessness is a form of capital punishment in the sense that it deprives somebody of status forever, for the rest of their lives.
“Is that not just the breathing dead and shouldn’t we be opposed to it on moral grounds, and let circumstances dictate what happen to her if she were brought back?
“Leaving her where she is is surely inhumane.”
Responding, Home Office minister Lord Murray said, “Surely the principal interest and the principal duty of government is to keep the people safe.”
Questioning the minister, Lord Lamont of Lerwick said, “If we continue to refuse citizenship and refuse to put on trial alleged UK terrorists here in this country, are we not just passing the buck to other countries?
“If every country pursues the same policy, are we not just going to build up vast insecure camps full of potential terrorists—the breeding ground of terrorists tomorrow?”
Lord Murray said Begum’s citizenship had been deprived from her by the then-secretary of state and this had been upheld by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
“I don’t agree with him that there is a risk of very large camps of people being accrued who had been deprived of their nationality.
Terror Watchdog
The Epoch Times reported earlier this month how Britain’s terror watchdog warned that the government’s continued refusal to repatriate ISIS suspects like Begum could put the UK at “longer-term risk” of terrorist attacks.Independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, KC, said the UK’s approach to British-linked ISIS individuals could leave it out of step with other countries—now repatriating citizens—and could create a “Britain’s Guantanamo” in Syria.
He added that Britain’s policy of removing citizenship and limiting the assistance it will give to UK citizens in Syria was now “at a crossroads.”
Referencing Begum in his speech, Hall told Kings College London that much of the debate concerning her case “is about moral fault.”
He said: “Terrorism is a moral and indeed emotional subject, particularly and rightly for those who are its victims.
“Dialogue is coloured by notions of treachery and betrayal.
“I don’t suggest these notions are irrelevant in a democracy where decisions must be explained to an anxious and affronted public.
“But cold, hard risk management is different, and repatriation, if it took place, should not be confused with moral absolution.”
‘No Protection’
Begum was 15 years old when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey, and into ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.There, she married an ISIS fighter—Dutch-born Yago Riedijk—and lived in Raqqa.
She remained in Raqqa for four years, until she was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019. Her British citizenship was revoked shortly after she was found.
Begum was nine months pregnant at the time.
The three children she had given birth to since leaving the UK have all passed away.
She is currently living at Roj camp in northern Syria, which is run by a militia group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
In November 2020, the UK Supreme Court ruled she could not return to Britain to appeal the decision to revoke her citizenship.
Her lawyers said at the time that the ruling has left “no protection for a British child trafficked out of the UK.”
Amnesty International also voiced its disappointment at the tribunal decision.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, the human rights organisation’s UK refugee and migrant rights director, said: “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.”
