A UK appeals court on Wednesday upheld the revocation of British citizenship of former ISIS affiliate Shamima Begum, one of three women who fled to Syria as teenagers in 2015 to join the terror group.
In 2019, the UK government decided to strip the British citizenship of Begum, who has Bangladeshi origins but does not also hold Bengali citizenship. At the time of that decision, Begum was in a refugee camp in Syria – where she still lives – and wanted to return to the UK. The British government was much criticized for its decision to strip her of her citizenship, especially after Begum’s three-week-old son died of pneumonia: critics argued that the UK should not have allowed Begum and her baby to remain in the refugee camp.
In July 2020, the UK Court of Appeal, the second highest court in England and Wales, ruled that Begum could return to the UK to appeal the government’s decision to strip her of her citizenship.
The British Home Office appealed against that decision, and the following February the British Supreme Court ruled in favor. Begum then in turn appealed to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, an appeals tribunal that deals specifically with decisions regarding the revocation of citizenship, which ruled Wednesday morning that the government’s 2019 decision was lawful.
