Shamima Begum left the UK to join the Islamic State group when she was a teenager. The Supreme Court has today ruled that she cannot return and fight her citizenship case in this country.
This morning, the UK Supreme Court made a unanimous ruling that Ms Begum’s rights were not infringed upon when she was refused permission to return.
At the age of 15, Ms Begum left the UK with two other East-London schoolgirls and travelled to Syria with the intention of joining the Islamic State group.
In 2019, as she first attempted to return, the then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her citizenship on national security grounds.
The case was then raised to the Court of Appeals last July, in which it was ruled that the only fair way forward was to accept her into the UK, as she is unable to fight her case from a camp in North Syria.
As a result, the Home Office subsequently appealed to the UK Supreme Court, arguing that the Court of Appeals decision “would create significant national security risks”.
On Friday, the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed, said the Government were indeed entitled to prevent Ms Begum from returning to the UK.
Announcing the ruling, Lord Reed said: “The Supreme Court unanimously allows all of the Home Secretary’s appeals and dismisses Ms Begum’s cross-appeal.”
He then went to say that the judgment given by the Court of Appeal “did not give the Home Secretary’s assessment the respect which it should have received”.
Lord Reed concluded by saying that the right to a fair hearing did not “trump all other considerations, such as the safety of the public”.
