Jihadi bride Begum now claims she was trafficked to Syria
SHAMIMA Begum’s claim that she was “trafficked” to Syria “for sexual exploitation” aged 15 was challenged at a special court hearing yesterday.
Her lawyer said there is “overwhelming evidence” the jihadi bride was coerced into joining Islamic State in the Middle East.
But the Home Office rejected that as “entirely speculative”.
Begum has not previously claimed she was trafficked despite interviews with the media and her solicitors, its lawyer said.
Begum and two other East London schoolgirls travelled to war-torn Syria in February 2015.
She turned up four years later, nine months pregnant and living in appalling conditions in the Al-Roj refugee camp. Run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), it is a “dire” place where violence is common, the court was told.
Begum is challenging a decision
to strip her of British citizenship on the grounds of national security, claiming that the move made her “de facto stateless”.
Samantha Knights QC, representing Begum, who is now 21, told the
Special Immigration Appeals Commission that the Home Office counter-terrorism unit “had suspicions of coercion and control” when Begum left.
But the Home Office failed to consider if Begum was “a child trafficked to, and remaining in, Syria for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced marriage”. Ms Knights added: “Ms Begum is in a fundamentally unsafe environment in a camp run by the SDF. Physical violence is common and psychological trauma is endemic.” She urged Mr Justice Jay to consider new grounds of appeal later this year. But Home Office David Blundell QC said: “The allegation is not that Ms Begum was trafficked, but rather that she ‘may have been’. It is entirely speculative.” Mr Justice Jay will give his ruling later. Begum...challenged