Shamima Begum’s lawyers are challenging a decision that saw her British citizenship removed, claiming she was a victim of child trafficking when she joined the Islamic State as a terrorist “enforcer” at 15.
Begum was a schoolgirl at Bethnal Green Academy when, in 2015, she left the UK for Syria, with two other school friends and joined the Islamic State (IS).
Now 23, her legal team is challenging the Home Office’s 2019 decision to strip Begum of her nationality. Her lawyers argue that Begum was “a victim of child trafficking”, not a national security threat.
Yesterday, Samantha Knights KC, a lawyer for Ms Begum, told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission: “This case concerns a British child aged 15 who was persuaded, influenced and affected with her friends by a determined and effective Isis propaganda machine.”
Knight, in written evidence, added: “[Begum] was recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of ‘sexual exploitation’ and ‘marriage’ to an adult male”.
“She was following a well-known pattern by which Isis cynically recruited and groomed female children… so that they could be offered as ‘wives’ to adult men.”
Ten days after arriving in Syria, at the age of 15, Begum married Dutch national and convicted terrorist Yago Riedijk. Begum had three children with Riedijk, all of whom died as infants.
Begum was among 550 women and girls from Western countries to join IS.
She was stripped of her British citizenship after the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, considered her to be a “national security threat”.
This followed a series of press appearances in 2019 where Begum said she “had a good time” when she first joined IS, claiming the terrorist organisation “take care of you”.
Two years later, in 2021, she was interviewed again on Good Morning Britain from a refugee camp. Begum told the UK government she wanted to return to her home country and “help with extremism’”.
Begum still remains at the camp in northern Syria. Knight, said she is now “effectively an exile for life”.
An MI5 agent, known only as Witness E, testified in the hearing. They rejected claims that Begum had no “agency” in her decision to join IS.
They said Begum had been predicted high grades in her exams, was “capable of critical thinking” and it was, therefore, “inconceivable” that she would “not know what [Isis] was doing as a terrorist organisation at the time”.
On whether or not Begum should be considered a security threat or a victim, the MI5 agent said: “Victims can be threats”
According to the Daily Telegraph, during Begum’s time in Syria, she was an “enforcer” in IS’s “morality police”. She was reported to have carried a rifle and tried to recruit other young women to join IS.
Sir James Eadie KC, a lawyer for the Home Office, defended the decision to strip Begum of her nationality in court. He said: “The Home Office continues to assess that Ms Begum poses a risk to national security”.
He added that she had not left IS-controlled territory because of a “genuine disengagement from the group”, but for security reasons only.
Eadie also referenced Begum’s previous media appearances: “She expressed no remorse and said she did not regret joining IS, acknowledging that she was aware of the nature of the group when she travelled.”
The hearing is expected to last until Friday. A ruling is expected at a later date.
