UK court refuses appeal of ISIS-accused Shamima Begum to return to Britain

Begum has said she doesn't regret joining ISIS and has downplayed the group's violence and crimes against Yezidis.

Joanne Stocker-Kelly 2021/02/26 13:36

Shamima Begum's family appealed for her return after the teenager left London to join ISIS in Syria in February 2015. (Photo: Laura Lean/AFP)

NEWPORT, Co Mayo, Ireland (Kurdistan 24) – The UK Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Shamima Begum, who traveled to Syria from London to join the Islamic State group as a teenager, will not be permitted to return to the United Kingdom to challenge a decision to strip her British citizenship.

The Supreme Court unanimously agreed to uphold the Home Office’s decision to refuse Begum the right to return to the UK, saying that the 21-year-old’s right to a fair hearing did not override public safety concerns.

Begum, who was born in the UK, left London in February 2015 along with two school friends – Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana – to travel to Islamic State-held Syria through Turkey. Abase and Sultana were later killed in ISIS territory, but Begum married a Dutch Islamic State fighter, gave birth to two children, and was later found alive and pregnant with her third after the terrorist group's last stronghold of Baghuz fell to the Syrian Democratic Forces in 2019. The child, a boy, later died of pneumonia.

Sajid Javid, then the UK Home Secretary, stripped Begum of her citizenship two years ago. An appeals court ruled in favor of Begum last year, saying she had been denied the chance to challenge the decision due to her being held in Roj camp in northeast Syria.

Begum has told British media that she does not regret traveling to Syria and she has downplayed the terrorist group’s violence and crimes against Yezidis (Ezidis).

Friday's Supreme Court decision would seemingly rule out any chance of Begum returning to the UK as she no longer has legal standing to enter the country. The decision also effectively leaves her stateless although the Home Office argues she is entitled to citizenship in Bangladesh. Begum has never lived in Bangladesh and the government has said she will not be permitted to enter the country.

Begum’s case has potential implications for other non-British nationals accused of joining Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Many of the women and their children are held in al-Hol where the conditions continue to deteriorate. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the United States have repeatedly urged Western nations to repatriate their citizens, saying authorities in northeast Syria cannot continue to detain them.

Current UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has stripped at least two other British women of their citizenship.

Earlier this week a group of French women in al-Hol and other camps in northeast Syria began a hunger strike in a bid to force the government to bring them home.

Despite the appeals, the UK has approved funding to expand a men’s prison for Islamic State suspects in a converted old school outside the city of Hasaka, not far from al-Hol.