Shamima Begum loses final UK court bid over citizenship

Shamima Begum won’t be allowed to problem the elimination of her British citizenship on the Supreme Courtroom, judges have dominated.

The 24-year-old hoped to overturn the federal government’s choice to revoke her citizenship on nationwide safety grounds after she travelled to Syria as a youngster to hitch the Islamic State group.

Justices on the UK’s highest courtroom stated Ms Begum couldn’t attraction in opposition to an earlier Courtroom of Attraction ruling because the grounds of her case “don’t elevate an debatable level of legislation”.

It was Ms Begum’s final likelihood to problem the revocation of her citizenship inside the UK authorized system. However her legal professionals informed the BBC they’d take the case to the European Courtroom of Human Rights (ECHR).

Ms Begum, who left Bethnal Inexperienced, east London, with two schoolfriends in 2015, was later present in a Syrian refugee camp.

She married an Islamic State fighter quickly after arriving and went on to have three kids, none of whom survived.

Ms Begum was stripped of her British citizenship on nationwide safety grounds in 2019 by the then-Dwelling Secretary Sajid Javid, leaving her unable to return to the UK.

She stays in a camp managed by armed guards in northern Syria.

Final yr, she misplaced her attraction in opposition to the choice to revoke her citizenship on the Particular Immigration Appeals Fee (SIAC).

She then took her case to the Courtroom of Attraction – the place three judges unanimously dismissed her bid to regain British citizenship in February.

Then in March, Ms Begum misplaced an preliminary bid to problem the elimination of her citizenship on the Supreme Courtroom.

Her remaining choice was to ask the Supreme Courtroom straight for permission to have her case heard.

Nonetheless, on Wednesday three justices on the Supreme Courtroom unanimously dismissed the bid.

Lords Reed, Hodge and Lloyd-Jones discovered that the grounds on which she had based mostly her case didn’t legally undermine the choice to strip her of her UK citizenship.

These included questioning the legality of her not with the ability to argue in opposition to the choice to strip her of her citizenship earlier than it came about.

In an announcement, Ms Begum’s authorized workforce stated it “will take each doable authorized step” to revive her citizenship, together with petitioning the ECHR in Strasbourg to listen to her case.

It stated that the Supreme Courtroom had “left decision” to the Strasbourg courtroom.

Of their ruling, the justices discovered it was a matter for the European courtroom to determine whether or not the method to deprive Ms Begum of British citizenship ought to have thought-about whether or not she was a possible sufferer of trafficking.

The Supreme Courtroom justices additionally affirmed an earlier ruling which discovered these issues had no materials bearing on the choice beneath UK legislation.

Her legal professionals added: “It’s a matter of the gravest concern that British ladies and youngsters have been arbitrarily imprisoned in a Syrian camp for 5 years, all detained indefinitely with none prospect of a trial.

“All different international locations within the UK’s place have intervened and achieved the return of their residents and their kids.”

Reacting to the ruling, Maya Foa, director of human rights charity Reprieve, stated: “Exiling British nationals like Ms Begum is about politics, not the legislation.

“The prior authorities’s failed do-nothing method should be deserted. Our legislators ought to take duty and repatriate the small variety of British households on this place so their instances could be handled right here in Britain.”

Ms Begum is held in Camp Roj in north-east Syria, which holds practically 3,000 people, 65% of whom are kids, in response to the UN.

Amnesty Worldwide UK’s refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds described the ruling as “deeply regarding” as she was “now exiled in harmful and inhuman situations” within the detention camp.

He added: “Stripping Shamima Begum’s nationality was profoundly incorrect – she is and has at all times been British.”

The Dwelling Workplace stated it famous the choice of the Supreme Courtroom, however that it “can be inappropriate to remark additional at the moment”.

The 2 different women Ms Begum travelled to Syria with – Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana – at the moment are each regarded as useless.

The Shamima Begum Story podcast is offered on BBC Sounds and a characteristic size documentary of the identical identify is on BBC iPlayer (UK solely).