Shamima Begum loses citizenship appeal

Shamima Begum has lost her appeal over the decision to remove her British citizenship.

Then home secretary Said Javid removed her British citizenship in 2019.

Mr Justice Jay told the court that the appeal had been fully dismissed.

The ruling means that Begum will not be able to return to the UK. Begum left the UK to join Islamic State when she was 15. She married a fighter and had three children - all of whom have died.

At a hearing in November, her lawyers argued that the Home Office had a duty to investigate if she was a victim of trafficking before removing her citizenship. A previous hearing in 2020 found that the decision to remove her citizenship was lawful as she was a citizen of Bangladesh by decent at that time. However, her barrister argued that made her de facto stateless, with no practical right to citizenship in Bangladesh and Bangladeshi authorities saying they would not allow her into the country.

Image: Canley at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons