Begum was 15 years old when he left the UK to join the caliphate.
LONDON – Shamima Begum, the British woman who joined ISIS as a teenager in 2015, will be allowed to return to the UK to challenge the government’s decision to strip her of citizenship.
20-year-old Begum was stripped of her citizenship for security reasons by the British government in early 2019 after she was discovered by The Times of London war correspondent Anthony Lloyd living in a refugee camp in northern Syria. She had fled the UK and married an ISIS fighter four years earlier, when she was 15 years old.
The ISIS ex-girlfriend had appealed the decision, alleging that she was stateless, but in February a court said that because she had dual British-Bangladeshi citizenship, the measure to strip her of her citizenship was legal.
His lawyer had argued that Begum, who remains in the camp in northern Syria, was unable to successfully challenge the government’s decision as he was unable to return to the United Kingdom, according to British media reports. At the London Court of Appeals on Thursday, three judges ruled in his favor and said Begum could return to the country of his birth to legally challenge the decision.
“The Court acknowledges that there are national security concerns about Ms. Begum, but the Court concludes … despite those concerns, the only way you can have a fair and effective appeal to SIAC [the Special Immigrations Appeals Commission] it is to allow Ms Begum to enter the UK to file that appeal, ”the Court of Appeals said in a statement to the media.
The government has said they will appeal the sentence.
A judge said Begum “could be arrested and charged upon arrival in the United Kingdom and imprisoned pending trial,” according to the ruling.
In February 2020, James Longman, a foreign correspondent for ABC News, spoke to Begum and another ISIS girlfriend, American and Canadian Kimberly Polman, where they shared a tent. Throughout the interview, both women referred to ISIS as “them.”
Both women said they were different from the other ISIS wives in the field.
“Some of them celebrated when Baghdadi died, because he was not radical enough for them,” said Begum, referring to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a raid in October 2019.
While Begum is now allowed to return to the UK, it is not yet clear how his return to the country from northern Syria could be secured. Since her discovery in February 2019, Begum, who had three children during her time with ISIS, all of whom died, has repeatedly asked the public to return to the UK.
“This is a very disappointing decision of the Court,” a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, the government agency in charge of immigration and the police, said in a statement. “We will request permission to appeal this sentence and suspend it.” pending effects of any subsequent appeal. Maintaining our national security and keeping the public safe remains the government’s top priority. ”
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