Huge Shamima Begum update as jihadi bride makes new ECHR bid | Politics | News
Shabana Mahmood has vowed to fight European judges over Shamima Begum’s bid to return to the UK.
The jihadist bride’s hopes of leaving Syria have been revived after European judges objected to Britain’s handling of the bombshell case.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has officially notified the Home Office of the reasons for its decision to strip the ISIS fanatic of his British citizenship.
But Home Secretary Ms Mahmood insisted the Government would continue to defend its position, insisting that all courts in the UK had ruled the move was lawful.
Facing questions about the controversy on Monday, the Home Secretary said: “The case against Shamima Begum was litigated all the way to the UK Supreme Court by the previous Government, which did not hear the final appeal on this matter as all the legal issues have now been dealt with.”
“We, as the Government, have accepted this position in this case. This will not change. We will defend this strongly in the European Court of Human Rights. This is the approach of this Government and we will defend the position already put forward by all our courts all the way to the UK Supreme Court.”
Ms Mahmood was facing questions from Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp in Parliament.
Mr Philp demanded: “Will the Home Secretary confirm that he will use every legal mechanism to prevent the return to the UK of Shamima Begum, who has chosen to support the ISIS regime which has massacred civilians, raped thousands of women and girls and murdered people because they are gay?
“More broadly, does he agree to the immediate expulsion from this country of non-British citizens who espouse extremely racist or extremist views or support terrorism? These countries are in his hands. Will he use them?”
Ms Begum’s lawyers described the move as an “unprecedented opportunity” as it paved the way for a new conflict between Britain and Strasbourg. ECHR judges asked the Government whether it had violated human rights and anti-trafficking laws, which was Ms Begum’s main legal argument.
Official “communication” between the ECHR and the Home Office will reignite fears that Begum may eventually be allowed back to the UK. This suggests that Strasbourg believes Ms Begum’s human rights may have been violated. Many cases that come to court are dismissed before reaching this stage.
Begum was born and raised in Bethnal Green, east London, and traveled to Syria at the age of 15 to join ISIS in 2015 with two other school friends.
She later became the child bride of Yago Riedijk, a Dutch convert to Islam, and three of his children died with him in infancy.
In 2019, then home secretary Sajid Javid stripped him of his British citizenship on the grounds that he could apply for citizenship in Bangladesh and would not become stateless; this decision was later upheld by the UK Supreme Court.
Begum, now 26, still lives in Al Roj camp, which is home to thousands of former jihadists, after losing all appeals in the UK. The court’s final decisions are technically binding, but there is no enforcement mechanism.
Britain could challenge Strasbourg, as Lord Cameron did on a decision on prisoners’ voting rights until he reached a compromise by allowing criminals to vote. It is unclear whether the government will oppose the final decision.
