'IS Bride' Begum Loses Appeal Over Loss of British Citizenship

On Wednesday, Shamima Begum, who left Britain as a teenager to join the Islamic State (IS), lost her appeal against the British government's decision to remove her citizenship.

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Begum and two other east London schoolgirls left Britain for Syria in early 2015 to join the Islamic State. They married jihadi fighters and lived under IS rule.

She was stripped of her British citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a displacement camp in Syria. Begum, who is 23 years old right now, is living in a refugee camp controlled by armed guards in northern Syria.

After splitting up with her husband, "Begum was eventually found nine months pregnant in a refugee camp in al-Roj in Feb. 2019 by a Times journalist," the Irish Examiner recalled.

Her lawyers challenged the citizenship removal at a hearing in London in November 2022, when they argued that Britain's Home Office did not formally assess whether she was a victim of trafficking before putting her in "exile for life."

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a specialist tribunal that deals with appeals against the British government's decisions over refusing or removing British citizenship, dismissed Begum's appeal on Wednesday.

Judge Robert Jay said there was a "credible suspicion" that Begum was trafficked to Syria for sexual exploitation as a child and that there were "arguable breaches of duty" by state bodies that failed to stop her from leaving Britain. Nevertheless, he pointed out, these factors are insufficient for her appeal to succeed.