Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Shamima Begum loses bid to challenge citizenship removal

She left London in 2015 aged 15 and travelled with two school friends to Syria

Shamima Begum loses bid to challenge citizenship removal

A WOMAN stripped of her British citizenship after leaving the country as a teenager to marry a Daesh (Islamic State group) fighter lost a bid Wednesday (7) to take her case to the top court.

Shamima Begum, 24, had hoped to challenge an earlier ruling in which she lost an appeal against the removal of her citizenship.


But UK Supreme Court justices said she could not appeal again following her defeat at the Court of Appeal in February.

The justices found that her proposed grounds for appeal "do not raise an arguable point of law".

Begum, whose family is of Bangladeshi origin, was 15 years old when she left her east London home for Syria with two school friends in 2015.

While there, she married a Daesh fighter and had three children, none of whom survived.

She said she was left stateless in February 2019 when Britain's then-home secretary revoked her citizenship on national security grounds after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp.

It means she has not been able to return to Britain from the camp in northern Syria.

In February 2023, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) upheld the removal of her citizenship.

She then went to the Court of Appeal, where her legal team argued that the government had failed to consider its legal duties to Begum as a potential victim of trafficking.

But the court ruled that the risk to national security took precedence.

The court also ruled that Begum had not been left stateless as she retained Bangladeshi citizenship through her mother.

Begum's lawyer told the SIAC hearing that her client had been "influenced" along with her friends by a "determined and effective" Daesh "propaganda machine".

The appeal court accepted that Begum "may well have been influenced and manipulated by others", but added she could "still have made a calculated decision to travel to Syria".

Around 900 people are estimated to have travelled from Britain to Syria and Iraq to join the Daesh.

Of those, around 150 are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship, according to government figures.

In March, a group of UN experts urged the government to repatriate Begum.

(AFP)

More For You

Healthcare workers hold placards as they demonstrate on Westminster Bridge, near to St Thomas' Hospital in London on May 1, 2023. (Photo: Getty Images)
Healthcare workers hold placards as they demonstrate on Westminster Bridge, near to St Thomas' Hospital in London on May 1, 2023. (Photo: Getty Images)

Teachers, nurses warn of strikes over 2.8 per cent pay rise proposal

TEACHERS and nurses may strike after the government recommended a 2.8 per cent pay rise for public sector workers for the next financial year.

Ministers cautioned that higher pay awards would require cuts in Whitehall budgets.

Keep ReadingShow less
A man walks past a mural that says ‘Northern Ireland’, on Sandy Row in Belfast, Northern Ireland, August 11, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
A man walks past a mural that says ‘Northern Ireland’, on Sandy Row in Belfast, Northern Ireland, August 11, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)

Northern Ireland approves extension of post-Brexit trade rules

NORTHERN Ireland’s devolved government has voted to continue implementing post-Brexit trading arrangements under the Windsor Framework, a deal signed between London and the European Union in February 2023.

The vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont extended the arrangement for four years.

Keep ReadingShow less
'Covid bereavement rates in Scotland highest among Asians'
Ethnic groups were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to have experienced the loss of a close family member.

'Covid bereavement rates in Scotland highest among Asians'

THE bereavement rates due to Covid in Scotland have been highest among those identifying with ‘Any other’ ethnic group (68 per cent), followed by Indians (44 per cent) and Pakistanis (38 per cent), a new study revealed. This is significantly higher than the national average of around 25 per cent.

Ethnic groups were found to be two-and-a-half times more likely to have experienced the loss of a close family member during the Covid crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Harmeet Dhillon gives a benediction at the end of the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,  on July 15, 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)
Harmeet Dhillon gives a benediction at the end of the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 15, 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)

Trump nominates Harmeet Dhillon for top Department of Justice role

US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American attorney Harmeet K Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice.

“I am pleased to nominate Harmeet K Dhillon as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the US Department of Justice,” Trump announced on Monday on Truth Social, his social media platform.

Keep ReadingShow less
Brella's body was discovered in the boot of a car in Ilford, east London, on 14 November. (Photo: Northamptonshire Police)
Brella's body was discovered in the boot of a car in Ilford, east London, on 14 November. (Photo: Northamptonshire Police)

Harshita Brella case: Marriage, abuse, and a tragic end

HARSHITA BRELLA, a 24-year-old woman living in Corby, Northamptonshire, was found dead in the boot of a car on 14 November.

Her husband, Pankaj Lamba, is suspected of killing her and is believed to have fled to India.

Keep ReadingShow less