‘ISIS Bride’ loses effort to return to U.K. in fight for citizenship

London, February 26: Shamima Begum, who as a schoolgirl left her London home to join the Islamic State in Syria in 2015, lost a series of appeals before Britain’s Supreme Court on Friday that could have allowed her to return home to fight the removal of her citizenship, a move that could affect other British citizens held in detention camps in Syria.

Begum, now 21, hoped to return to Britain to appeal a 2019 decision by the British government to strip her of her citizenship, a move that could render her stateless. A lower court ruled last year that Begum could only be granted a “fair and effective appeal” by returning to Britain, but on Friday, the Supreme Court’s five judges unanimously denied her request to return, The New York Times reported.

“The right to a fair hearing does not trump all other considerations, such as the safety of the public,” said Robert Reed, a Supreme Court judge. “If a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be fairly heard, then the courts cannot ordinarily hear it.”

The ruling could have far-reaching implications for other Westerners associated with the terrorist group who have remained in detention camps in northeastern Syria. That includes about 15 other British women who have also been stripped of their citizenship. Some, like Begum, have pleaded with the authorities to repatriate them so they could be prosecuted at home.

In dismissing Begum’s appeals, the Supreme Court handed a significant legal victory to the British government, and threw Begum’s fate further into limbo until the authorities assess the threat she may pose.

Since the Islamic State lost its final foothold in Iraq and Syria in March 2019, more than 60,000 family members of Islamic State fighters have been detained in squalid camps, including 230 women from a dozen European countries and hundreds of children, according to the Brussels-based Egmont Institute.

Many have been detained with little legal basis, and the withdrawal of citizenship has created further obstacles to repatriation for some. Since the Islamic State lost its final foothold in Iraq and Syria in March 2019, more than 60,000 family members of Islamic State fighters have been detained in squalid camps, including 230 women from a dozen European countries and hundreds of children, according to the Brussels-based Egmont Institute.