ISIS bride Begum is victim of trafficking, court told
TheRe is ‘overwhelming evidence’ that Islamic State bride Shamima Begum was a victim of trafficking when she left the UK, a court heard yesterday.
Begum was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls travelled to Syria to join the terror group in 2015.
her legal team is challenging the home Office’s decision to remove her British citizenship on national security grounds shortly after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
her lawyers told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) the home Office had a legal duty to investigate whether Begum, 21, was a victim of trafficking when her citizenship was revoked.
Samantha Knights QC said ‘the counterterrorism unit had suspicions of coercion and control’ at the time Begum left the UK. She argued that this ‘gives rise to the need to investigate the issue of trafficking’.
In written submissions, Begum’s legal team said the home Office failed to consider whether she was ‘a child trafficked to, and remaining in, Syria for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced marriage’.
It added: ‘There is overwhelming evidence, notwithstanding the absence of a direct statement from [Begum], that she was the victim of trafficking. But in any event there is plainly sufficient evidence to raise, at the very least, the prospect that [Begum] was such a victim so as to trigger duties of inquiry and investigation.’
Begum also wants to challenge the removal of her British citizenship on the grounds that it made her ‘de facto stateless’ and that the decision was procedurally unfair.
David Blundell QC, representing the home Office, told the court: ‘Miss Begum should not be permitted to amend her grounds again.’ he argued: ‘It is significant that the allegation is not that Miss Begum was trafficked, but rather that she “may have been” trafficked.
‘Miss Begum herself has never stated that she has been trafficked, despite having given numerous media interviews and provided instructions to her solicitors on a number of matters. The absence of a claim… means this ground proceeds on an uncertain factual basis. It is entirely speculative.’
SIAC chairman Mr Justice Jay said he would aim to give his ruling on next steps in the case later this month. In February, the Supreme Court overturned a prior decision to allow Begum to return to Britain so she could take part in her appeal.
In an interview earlier this week, Begum pleaded to ‘come home’ and suggested she could help rehabilitate others. She said: ‘I don’t think I was a terrorist. I think I was just a dumb kid who made one mistake. I personally don’t think that I need to be rehabilitated, but I would want to help other people be rehabilitated.’
Wearing a leather Nike baseball cap, she added: ‘Can I come home please, pretty please?’