Jihadi bride Shamima Begum has lost a legal challenge against the government’s decision to strip her of her British citizenship, with three Court of Appeal judges ruling that she was “the author of her own misfortune.”
Ms. Begum was 15 when she left her home in east London with two friends and travelled, via Turkey, to Syria in 2015. She married an ISIS fighter and had children with him but her husband and the children all died, and she was eventually found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
The-then home secretary, Sajid Javid, stripped her of her citizenship on national security grounds and she lost a challenge against that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) last year.
But in a 42-page ruling on Friday, three judges led by the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr rejected her appeal.
Baroness Carr, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Whipple, said in the ruling: “It could be argued the decision in Ms Begum’s case was harsh. It could also be argued that Ms Begum is the author of her own misfortune.”
“But it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view. The only task of the court was to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful. Since it was not, Ms Begum’s appeal is dismissed,” the ruling went on.
‘This Won’t Be the End of the Line’
Maya Foa, the executive director of Reprieve, which has campaigned for the 24-year-old, told the BBC, “I am sure she will be disappointed by this, but will know this won’t be the end of the line as I am assuming there will be an appeal.”
At the hearing in October, Ms. Begum’s lawyer, Samantha Knights, KC, said the government had failed to consider the legal duties owed to Ms. Begum as a potential victim of trafficking or as a result of “state failures” in her case.But Baroness Carr said, “We are not persuaded that there was any obligation on the Secretary of State to take into account the possibility that there might be a duty to investigate the circumstances of Ms Begum’s trafficking, alternatively, to consider whether any such investigation as might be required would be enhanced by her presence in this country.”
Begum Made ‘Calculated Decision to Travel to Syria’
She concluded, “Ms Begum may well have been influenced and manipulated by others but still have made a calculated decision to travel to Syria and align with [ISIS].”In its ruling in 2023 SIAC concluded there were “arguable breaches of duty” by state bodies—including the Metropolitan Police, Tower Hamlets council, and Ms. Begum’s school—in not preventing her from travelling to Syria.
But the Court of Appeal has not found they were irrelevant to the question of whether she might pose a national security risk and could therefore have her citizenship removed.
Ms. Begum, who remains stateless, is believed to still be in a refugee camp in Syria.
Her friends who travelled with her, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, are both believed to have lost their lives during the conflict in Syria.
After the ruling was published, a Home Office spokesperson said, “We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has found in favour of our position in this case.”
“Our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and we will robustly defend any decision made in doing so,” they added.
