Vow 'to fight on' as Begum loses UK citizenship appeal

Lawyers for Shamima Begum vowed to “keep fighting” to bring her home yesterday after they failed in a fresh attempt to overturn a decision to remove her British citizenship after the court of appeal ruled against her.

- Dan Sabbagh

Three judges unanimously concluded that the then home secretary, Sajid Javid, had the power to set aside concerns she may have been a victim of child trafficking when she left east London as a schoolgirl and travelled in secret with two friends to live under Islamic State (IS) in 2015.

The court also held that Javid had acted lawfully even if it meant Begum, now 24, was in effect stateless – because she theoretically held  Bangladeshi citizenship, which applied up to her 21st birthday, at the time of his decision in 2019.

An argument raised by her lawyers, that citizenship deprivation disproportionately affected British Muslims, and so was a breach of equalities law, was also dismissed because there is an exemption for cases involving national security.

Dame Sue Carr, the head of the court of appeal, said the judges had unanimously dismissed Begum’s appeal, saying: “It could be argued that the decision in Miss Begum’s case was harsh. It could also be argued that Miss Begum is the author of her own misfortune. But it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view.

“Our only task is to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful. We have concluded it was not and the appeal is dismissed.”