Begum may be a terror threat...says her lawyer
A LAWYER for Shamima Begum admitted yesterday “no one can be sure” if the jihadi bride is still a terror threat.
Tasnime Akunjee did not rule out that Begum will pose a danger to the country she fled to marry an Islamic State fighter.
But Mr Akunjee insisted the 20-year-old should be allowed to return so she can beg to have her British citizenship restored.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain yesterday, Mr Akunjee was asked if she could be a terror threat or groom others following her extremist past.
He said: “No one can be sure, including her family, that that won’t happen. But that is pure speculation.”
Begum, of Hackney, east London, left Britain to join IS five years ago when she was just 15.
She was stripped of her British citizenship last year after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp.
Sajid Javid, then home secretary, took the decision on the grounds she would not be left stateless as she could claim Bangladeshi citizenship through her parents. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission upheld the decision this year.
It also dismissed her challenge to the Home Office’s decision to refuse to let her come back to Britain to pursue her appeal.
But the Court of Appeal overturned the SIAC ruling on Thursday, saying she could not properly pursue her fight to win back her British passport unless she was allowed home.
Lord Justice Flaux, sitting with Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh, found SIAC was wrong to discount the evidence that Begum was at risk of being sent to Bangladesh or Iraq where she may face ill treatment.The judges said there were “national security concerns”.
But they said: “The only way she can have a fair and effective appeal before SIAC is for her to be permitted to come to the UK to pursue that appeal.”
The judgement said: “Fairness and justice must, on the facts of this case, outweigh the national security concerns. Leave to enter appeals should be allowed.”
The ruling was seen as a green light for other jihadists to return was described by the Home Office as “very disappointing”.