She may be a terror threat, admits jihadi bride’s lawyer
Fury as judges let jihadi bride return
Yesterday’s Mail
SHAMIMA Begum’s family lawyer admitted yesterday he cannot be sure she does not pose a terror threat.
Tasnime Akunjee said to ‘mitigate’ the risk, the 20-year-old jihadi bride could be locked up or put on an antiterror order on her return to the UK.
The solicitor, who has represented her family for five years after the Bethnal Green schoolgirl ran away to join Islamic State in 2015, also revealed she has yet to speak to her parents about her imminent return. They hope she can be brought back to the UK by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office within weeks of legal proceedings concluding.
The Government has stripped Begum of her UK citizenship, but on Thursday, three Court of Appeal judges ruled she could return to Britain from a refugee camp in Syria.
Begum has told camp guards is ‘overjoyed’ that she will see her family and country again, but she is nervous about the reception she will receive.
A member of the security forces holding Begum at the Al-Roj camp told MailOnline: ‘Shamima has been very happy since she got the news.
‘She is in a good mood because she will see her family and her country again. She is also very nervous about what will happen to her and how people will look at her there.’
When Mr Akunjee was asked whether she could pose a terror threat or groom others, he said: ‘No one can be sure, including her family, that that won’t happen – but that is pure speculation.
‘The judgment itself talks about a risk assessment. With all God’s will in the world, there is always a risk. But those risks can be mitigated if she was arrested or put in custody, or she would pose less of a risk on a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measure.’
Begum is now allowed to return to the UK to fight the decision to remove her citizenship, but arrangements have not yet been made for how she will be brought back. She could face arrest for membership of IS, a proscribed terrorist organisation which she has said she had no regrets about joining.
‘If the fifth biggest economy in the world cannot get its act together to protect the public from a 20-year-old girl, than we will be a laughing stock,’ Mr Akunjee said.
‘The security services already monitor 400 people who have returned to this country from Syria and Shamima Begum will just be No 401.’
He said Begum’s family were ‘holding their breath’, because the Court of Appeal ruling may not be the end of proceedings, adding: ‘They are heartened by the judgment but they know the Home Office has been very clear about the strength of the Government’s will to stop her coming back.’
The Home Office has said it would appeal and attempt to ‘stay’ – or stop – the effects of the judgment. And if an appeal fails, it is understood ministers are prepared to sanction extraordinary efforts to keep the IS collaborator out.
Sympathisers of the jihadi bride risk up to 14 years in jail if they try to help her come back. Section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000 says it is a crime to ‘fund’ terrorism. Funding could involve money or property – for example, a plane ticket.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Begum should return to the UK to face justice in the criminal courts.
He said: ‘If a British citizen commits an offence here or overseas they should face justice in the criminal courts. And if she has committed a criminal offence, I’m sure the jury will find her guilty, and justice will be served.
‘What I’m not in favour of is us sub-contracting justice to another country.’