Shamima Begum is fighting to regain UK citizenship faced a setback. The supreme court refused to hear her appeal. Three judges said her appeal had no strong legal point. This supports a past ruling. Sajid Javid, the home secretary then, could ignore concerns. These concerns said she was a child trafficking victim. She left London as a schoolgirl. She secretly traveled with friends to live under Islamic State in 2015.
Shamima Begum’s lawyers argued against her 2019 citizenship revocation. She was found in a Syrian refugee camp then. They said she was trafficked at 15 and claimed the authorities should have stopped it. They also said Begum had the right to speak to Javid before losing her citizenship. This did not happen.
The supreme court disagreed. It said allowing her to speak would weaken such decisions. These cases deal with national security. Begum’s lawyers plan to appeal to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg. They want to take every legal step possible.
Shamima Begum has Stateless Status Upheld by Supreme Court Verdict
Shamima Begum lost her first appeal last year. This was against the citizenship revocation on national security grounds. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) handled it. She lost again this year. Three judges at the court of appeal dismissed her case. The Home Office also opposed her challenge.
Maya Foa, from Reprieve, said if Begum committed crimes, she should face charges in a British court. The UK can handle the case of a 15-year-old schoolgirl. She was groomed online by traffickers. Court of appeal judges said Begum’s citizenship was stripped for political reasons. It was not about national security. But they could not check the home secretary’s extreme powers. The supreme court agreed. Stripping her citizenship makes her stateless.
Exiling British nationals like Begum is about politics. It is not about law. Politicians should repatriate British families in this position. Their cases should be dealt with in Britain.
In February, Dame Sue Carr, an appeal judge, spoke on the case. She agreed with the commission’s decision. Begum may have been influenced by others. But she still chose to travel to Syria and align with Islamic State. The court only assessed if the deprivation decision was unlawful. It was not. So, Begum’s appeal was dismissed.
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