By Shamima Begum can return to UK to fight for citizenship, court rules
Shamima Begum has won the right to return to the UK to fight the Home Office decision to revoke her British citizenship.
As an East London schoolgirl she left the UK in 2015 and lived under IS rule for more than three years before being found in a refugee camp.
The Court of Appeal ruled today (Thursday, July 16) that she should be allowed back into the UK to fight the government’s decision to remove her citizenship, which was made on security grounds.
The Court of Appeal said Ms Begum had been denied a fair hearing because she could not make her case from the camp.
This latest judgement means the government must now find a way to allow the 20-year-old to appear in court in London despite repeatedly saying it would not assist removing her from Syria.
The Home Office said the decision was “very disappointing” and it would “apply for permission to appeal”. It said it would appeal against the ruling and apply for the court’s judgement to be stayed until then.
Earlier this year the Special Immigration Appeals Commission decided Ms Begum had not been illegally rendered stateless while she was in Syria because she was entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship.
Begum left Bethnal Green aged 15 with two teenage friends to join Isis, when the terror group was at its height.
She was nine months pregnant when discovered in the refugee camp, however the child died. She has said she had two other children while living under Isis, but they also died. In February she was pictured living in a heated tent in a camp in Syria.
Begum’s lawyer Daniel Furner said the ruling would allow the young woman to “give her side of the story”. He added: “Ms Begum is not afraid of facing British justice, she welcomes it.”
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