Shamima ‘trafficked’ – claim
SHAMIMA Begum was influenced by a “determined and effective Isis propaganda machine” and should have been treated as a child trafficking victim, a court has heard.
Ms Begum, now 23, was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls travelled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State group in February 2015. Her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
Ms Begum is challenging the Home Office’s decision to remove her British citizenship. Her lawyers argue the Home Office had a legal duty to investigate whether she was a victim of trafficking when her citizenship was revoked.
At the start of a five-day hearing at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, Samantha Knights KC, for Ms Begum, said she was a British child aged 15 who was “persuaded, influenced and affected” by a “determined and effective Isis propaganda machine.” The written submission said there was “overwhelming” evidence Ms Begum had been “recruited, transported, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of ‘sexual exploitation’ and ‘marriage’ to an adult male”.