Court to Decide on Citizenship of UK Woman Who Joined ISIS in Syria

A significant ruling is anticipated today in the appeal case of Shamima Begum, a woman who lost her British citizenship after leaving the country as a teenager to marry an Islamic State group fighter. Shamima Begum, now 24, brought her case against the revocation of her citizenship to the Court of Appeal in London in October last year.

During the proceedings, Begum’s lawyer argued that the Home Office had neglected its legal obligations to Begum as a potential victim of trafficking. Begum, whose family has Bangladeshi origins, departed her east London home at the age of 15 in 2015 to travel to Syria with two school friends. During her time there, she married an IS fighter and had three children, none of whom survived.

In February 2019, Begum claimed to have been rendered stateless when then-UK Interior Minister Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds after she was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp. However, a UK tribunal in 2020 ruled that she was not stateless because she held Bangladeshi citizenship by descent through her mother.

Despite this, Begum’s challenge against the decision was unsuccessful at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) last year. The SIAC maintained that Javid was within his rights to strip Begum of her citizenship, even though there were suspicions of her being recruited, transferred, and harbored for sexual exploitation.

Consequently, Begum remains unable to return to the UK from her current residence in a refugee camp in northern Syria. Lawyers representing the Home Office have upheld the SIAC’s decision, arguing its correctness.

Begum’s case is emblematic of the challenges faced by numerous individuals, including hundreds of Europeans, following the collapse of the self-proclaimed caliphate by Islamist extremists in 2019. Her lawyer emphasized during the SIAC hearing that Begum and her friends were influenced by the “determined and effective” propaganda of the IS group, which led them to travel to Syria. Government data suggests that around 900 individuals from Britain journeyed to Syria and Iraq to join the IS group, with approximately 150 having their citizenship revoked.