ISIS bride Shamima Begum – British woman who fled Syria to join the terrorist group in 2015 and quickly married one of her fighters – lost Friday to return to Britain to fight for her restoration of citizenship , because it poses a security risk. .
A unanimous ruling by the UK Supreme Court overturned a decision by the Court of Appeal last year, which ruled that Begum must be allowed to return so that she could have a fair appeal in her case.
“The right to a fair hearing does not outweigh any other considerations, such as public safety,” Supreme Court President Robert Reed told Reuters.
“If a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be heard fairly, then the courts cannot normally hear it,” he said, adding that the Begum appeal should be suspended until it can play an effective role. in question without endangering the public.
“This is not a perfect solution, because it is not known how long it can take until this is possible. But there is no perfect solution to such a dilemma, “he said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the decision, his spokesman said, adding that the government’s priority is “maintaining our national security.”
Begum, born in Great Britain, was 21 years old when she took off with two other schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy in East London to join the terrorist group.
She married an ISIS fighter two weeks later and lived in Raqqa, the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate. In 2019, Begum returned to a refugee camp in Syria, where three of her children died.
She told reporters she wanted to return home, but former Interior Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her citizenship months later, with her internal intelligence agency considering her a security threat.
He claimed that she was a descendant of Bangladesh and that she could go there.
Begum is now in the Al-Roj refugee camp, run by Syrian Kurdish authorities, where UN human rights experts said on Monday that the conditions were “subhuman”.
ITV News filmed her walking around the camp, wearing sunglasses, a jacket, a T-shirt and leggings. She declined to comment to the press.
Human rights groups have said the UK has a duty to bring Begum and others back into similar situations and to prosecute them for any crimes they have committed, rather than leave them abroad.
“Their abandonment in a legal black hole – under Guantanamo-like conditions – is outside British values and the interests of justice and security,” Maya Foa, director of the Reprieve campaign group, told Reuters.
With Post threads