Home Secretary vows to ‘put UK first’ and fight Europe over Shamima Begum’s citizenship | UK | News
Shabana Mahmood has vowed to fight European court attempts to allow Shamima Begum to return to the UK. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) demanded an answer regarding the case of Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship after she fled from England to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS).
Ms Begum traveled from Bethnal Green, east London, to ISIS-held territory a decade ago when she was 15. She was “married” to an ISIS fighter and was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019 on the grounds that she posed a threat to national security, and remained in a Syrian camp. A document published by the European court earlier this month says Ms Begum is appealing the decision under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits slavery and forced labour.
Attempts by European judges to appeal the decision could open a potential path back to the UK for Begum, described by her lawyers as an “unprecedented opportunity”.
But sources suggest the Home Secretary will “vigorously defend” the Government’s position, paving the way for a clash with the court.
A government source told Telegram: “The Home Secretary will strongly defend the decision to revoke Shamima Begum’s citizenship, which has been repeatedly tested and approved in our local courts.
“The Minister of Internal Affairs will always put the national security of this country first.”
The debate threatens to fuel the fire of those in the UK who want to reconsider the country’s relationship with the ECHR.
One of them is Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who told the Daily Express: “Under no circumstances should Shamima Begum ever set foot in the UK again. She chose to get into bed with ISIS terrorists and now she must face the consequences.”
“We don’t need a foreign court in Strasbourg to tell us who can and cannot come to this country. This is another striking example of why we need to leave the ECHR and take back control of our borders.”
The case was brought in December last year after he was denied the chance to challenge the removal of his British citizenship in the UK Supreme Court in August.
Among the four questions posed to the Home Office by judges in Strasbourg, the court asked: “Did the Secretary of State have a positive obligation under Article 4 of the Convention to consider whether the applicant was a victim of trafficking and whether any duties or obligations arose on him from this before deciding to deprive the applicant of his nationality?”
Responding to the motion, Birnberg Peirce Lawyers representing Ms Begum said the court’s communication “presents an unprecedented opportunity” for the UK and Ms Begum to “grapple with the significant issues raised in her case which have so far been ignored, ignored or violated by previous UK administrations”.
Lawyer Gareth Peirce said: “It is impossible to dispute that a 15-year-old British boy was tricked, encouraged and deceived into leaving his home and traveling to ISIS-controlled territory for the purpose of sexual exploitation in 2014/15, and that he was tricked, encouraged and deceived as a child for the known purpose of being given to an ISIS fighter to raise children on behalf of the Islamic State.
“It is equally impossible not to accept the catalog of failures to protect a child who was known weeks in advance to be at high risk when a close friend disappeared in the same way and via the same route to Syria.
“It has long been recognized that the then Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, in taking a hasty decision to strip Ms Begum of her citizenship in 2019, had a complete disregard for the care and dealing of a London schoolchild and the state’s resulting duties.”
Tney added that this challenge arose because the current government has made protection for victims of grooming and trafficking a national priority.
