Begum plots next move from Syrian limbo
Lawyers for IS runaway bride set to challenge ruling that bars her from attending court hearing
SHAMIMA BEGUM, the Islamic State bride, could mount a legal attempt to attend her court hearing from a camp in Syria as she continues to fight for her citizenship, ministers fear.
The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the right of Begum – who fled her home in Bethnal Green, London, as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State in 2015 – to challenge the Government in court did not “trump” public safety.
Images later emerged of Begum, apparently captured yesterday by ITV News, walking through the camp where she is being held in Western clothes, with her visibly straightened hair freely flowing, rather than concealed beneath a hijab.
She refused to talk to the broadcaster about the outcome of her case.
It came as the highest court in the land delivered a stinging rebuke to the Court of Appeal, which last year cleared the way for Begum to come back to Britain after finding she was denied a “fair and effective appeal”.
The 21-year-old has been waging a legal battle since Sajid Javid revoked her British passport in 2019, when he was home secretary, on national security grounds.
MI5 was said to have advised Mr Javid that Begum was “aligned with Isil” and had probably received weapons training, meaning she posed a “real and current threat”.
However, Lord Reed, the president of the Supreme Court, yesterday said that the appeal process should be paused until Begum “is in a position to play an effective part in it without the safety of the public being compromised”.
It means she is effectively condemned to languish in the fetid al-roj camp under the guard of the Syrian Democratic Forces, who are said to prohibit contact with lawyers.
Government sources believe a legal bid forcing Britain to facilitate a court hearing that Begum can attend remotely from al-roj is likely to be her only remaining option.
“Essentially her appeal over her citizenship is in limbo until such time as she can appear at a hearing. We think her lawyers will probably try to argue that the Government has to provide the facilities in order to enable such a hearing to happen,” a source said. “But the reality is that she is in a camp in north-east Syria which is extremely dangerous and has probably not got great phone reception. How could we facilitate it?”
It is understood that Begum’s legal team have yet to decide on what step to take next but they are considering all options and remain committed to her legal efforts.
There is also an outside possibility that Begum may take the Supreme Court’s ruling to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, according to a source. The Special Immigration and Appeals Commission in the UK is yet to consider the national security case against Begum, having already ruled that her Bangladeshi heritage meant she was not made stateless by the removal of her citizenship.
Begum’s lawyers, Birnberg Peirce, are also understood to have stayed their other cases involving Islamic State-supporting British citizens in the camps for seven days as they consider their options.
“The issue is whether there is any point continuing with these appeals because, of those, Shamima had potentially the strongest case,” said a source.
There are estimated to be 60 British nationals of all ages in the camp. Of the 25 adults, it is thought that about 20 have been stripped of their British citizenship because of their links to Islamic State, and have dual nationality so that they are not left stateless by such a move. Yesterday’s judgment by the Supreme Court could prevent up to 100 jihadists in Syrian camps from returning to the UK, in a decision that will be welcomed by the security services.
The prospect of keeping dozens of battle-hardened jihadists under surveillance was of serious concern to authorities.