IS women use Begum ‘trafficking’ claim

THREE women stripped of their citizenship for joining Islamic State are to claim they were victims of trafficking following the case of Shamima Begum.

The three women, who are detained in camps in Syria, are understood to be mounting legal challenges against the removal of their British citizenship on the basis that the Government failed to consider the fact that they were allegedly victims of modern slavery.

Charities and lawyers say there is growing evidence that IS trafficked and exploited young women, luring them to Syria as part of its “state-building” strategy.

It is understood the three women are bringing their cases before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) following a similar move by Ms Begum.

Lawyers for Ms Begum, who was stripped of her citizenship after she fled the UK and joined IS in Syria as a teenager, are due to open her case to SIAC on Monday.

Senior legal figures said the challenges could force Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, to reconsider her predecessors’ decisions to strip Ms Begum and the other women linked to IS of their citizenship if SIAC found the Home Office had failed to take account of trafficking allegations.

Maya Foa, joint executive director of Reprieve, a human rights charity, said: “What’s increasingly clear is that the UK government has applied a blanket policy of citizenship stripping to a group of people, many of whom are likely to be victims of trafficking.”