UK: Woman who joined IS as teen is not allowed to return
LONDON — Shamima Begum, who as a schoolgirl left her London home to join the Islamic State group in Syria in 2015, lost a series of appeals before Britain’s Supreme Court on Friday that could have allowed her to return home to fight the removal of her citizenship, a move that could affect other British citizens held in detention camps in Syria.
Begum, now 21, hoped to return to Britain to appeal a 2019 decision by the British government to strip her of her citizenship, a move that could render her stateless. A lower court ruled last year that Begum could only be granted a “fair and effective appeal” by returning to Britain, but on Friday, the Supreme Court’s five judges unanimously denied her request to return.
“The right to a fair hearing does not trump all other considerations, such as the safety of the public,” said Robert Reed, a Supreme Court judge. “If a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be fairly heard, then the courts cannot ordinarily hear it.”
The ruling could have far-reaching implications for other Westerners associated with the terrorist group who have remained in detention camps in northeastern Syria.
That includes about 15 other British women who have also been stripped of their citizenship. Some, like Begum, have pleaded with authorities to repatriate them so they could be prosecuted at home.
In dismissing Begum’s appeals, the Supreme Court handed a significant legal victory to the British government, and threw Begum’s fate further into limbo until authorities assess the threat she may pose.
“Begum has never had a chance to make her case in court that she doesn’t pose a danger to society,” said Sarah St. Vincent, executive director of Rights and Security International, an advocacy group. “Today’s decision will prevent her from doing so indefinitely and is unfair.”
Since the Islamic State lost its final foothold in Iraq and Syria in March 2019, more than 60,000 family members of Islamic State fighters have been detained in squalid camps, including 230 women from a dozen European countries and hundreds of children, according to the Brussels-based Egmont Institute.
Many have been detained with little legal basis, and the withdrawal of citizenship has created further obstacles to repatriation for some.
Their lawyers, relatives and right groups have periodically pressed authorities to bring them home, but most European governments have resisted such calls, wary of the backlash they could face from the
public, the challenges they may encounter in prosecuting the women and the risks for public safety that returnees could pose.
Countries like France, Belgium and Britain have repatriated some children on a case-by-case basis, but dozens who remain in the camps have died from malnutrition, hypothermia or various illnesses. Some have been victims of sexual abuse and abduction, according to human rights groups. A London-based organization has nicknamed the camps “Europe’s Guantánamo,” in a report documenting living conditions there last year.
Begum, who was born and raised in Britain, was 15 when she boarded a flight to Turkey with two friends in February 2015, and entered Syria to join the Islamic State. She married a Dutch fighter and had three children, all of whom have since died.
She once said that she had no regrets about joining Islamic State but later said she was willing to change if she could keep her citizenship.