Jihadi bride can return to UK
JIHADI bride Shamima Begum could return to the UK within months after a ruling by judges slammed as “disgraceful”.
The Court of Appeal yesterday decided Begum, one of three east London schoolgirls who fled to Syria in 2015 to join Islamic State, had been denied a fair hearing because she was in a refugee camp.
The 20-year-old’s appeal to return home “outweighed national security concerns”, judges said.
Conservative MPs blasted the decision and warned it “opens the door” for up to 150 terrorists and jihadi brides to return to Britain.
They say Begum should never be allowed to return as she swore allegiance to a terrorist group that has declared war on Britain.
Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her UK passport last year on national security grounds.
It was a decision ruled lawful by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which said she was “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent”.
Freedoms
Mr Javid was “deeply concerned” by the judgment. He said: “Any restrictions of rights and freedoms faced by Ms Begum are a direct consequence of the actions she has taken, in violation of both Government guidance and common morality.
“It is not clear to me why an appeal could not be made abroad using modern technology.
“However, this is not solely a matter of justice. It is also a matter of national security.”
The Home Office immediately confirmed it will seek a fresh appeal, to the Supreme Court, to prevent Begum from being able to return to the UK.
If she does return, she faces the prospect of immediate arrest on suspicion of committing terror offences.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: “It opens the door for all her fellow jihadi brides to return to Britain and potentially their terrorist partners too.”
Tim Loughton, a senior member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “She has no place in this country and shared an ideology with a lot of people who are still at liberty and could still do harm to this country.”
Asked if he believed Begum had changed her views, Mr Loughton added: “I don’t know and on that basis, why should we be taking the risk with the security of the nation?”
David Ibsen, executive director of Counter Extremism Project, said: “Shamima Begum had her citizenship revoked on the basis she was a threat to her country.
“Begum represents yet another example of a young person radicalised online who flees her home to join a terrorist cell and contribute, facilitate and support acts of terrorism against the country to which she now wishes to return.
“If she is to return to defend her case in court, the UK Government must not only reassure its citizens, who abide by the law, that they will not face any danger should she be allowed to return, but also arrest her and ensure she is put through the justice system for her crimes.”
Begum lived under Islamic
State rule for more than three years before she was found, nine months pregnant, at the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria in February last year. The jihadi bride, who is now in the al-Roj refugee camp in the country, begged to be rescued and brought back to the UK.
Begum’s lawyers appealed against the decision to strip her of her citizenship, arguing that it was unlawful because it left her stateless. Court of Appeal judges found that “the national security concerns about her could be addressed and managed if she returns to the United Kingdom”.
Judges ruled: “The only way in which she can have a fair and effective appeal is to be permitted
to come into the United Kingdom to pursue her appeal.”
They added: “If the Security Service and the Director of Public Prosecutions consider that the evidence and public interest tests for a prosecution for terrorist offences are met, she could be arrested and charged upon her arrival in the United Kingdom and remanded in custody pending trial.”
Lord Justice Flaux, sitting with Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Singh, said: “Fairness and justice must outweigh the national security concerns, so that the leave to enter appeals should be allowed.”
The ruling means the
Government must find a way to allow Begum to travel to the UK to appear in court in London, despite insisting it would offer no assistance to rescue her from her Syrian camp.
Security experts fear yesterday’s ruling could open the door for other IS brides and fighters to make similar attempts to return to home soil.
But Begum’s solicitor Daniel Furner said: “The court’s judgment today is an important reminder that fairness and the rule of law remain cornerstones of the British legal system and that they set the legal limits within which the Home Secretary may act.”