Shamima Begum loses bid to return to Britain after judges side with ministers

SHAMIMA BEGUM has lost her bid to regain British citizenship after Court of Appeal judges ruled that the Government was entitled to block her return to the UK to protect national security.

- Tristan Kirk

The former east London schoolgirl travelled to an Islamic State-controlled region of Syria in 2015, when she was 15, and her citizenship was revoked four years later after she was found at a refugee camp.

Begum married a jihadi fighter and gave birth to three of his children during her time with the terrorist group, and now argues that she was a victim of trafficking who was exploited as a teenager when she left the UK.

Last year the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) rejected her bid to regain British citizenship, and Court of Appeal judges today backed that decision.

Delivering the ruling, Lady Chief Justice Lady Carr said: “It could be argued that 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 the 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.”