The UK Supreme Court ruled on Friday that a woman of British descent who went to Syria as a schoolboy to join ISIS poses a security risk and will not be allowed to return to Britain to fight for security. their citizenship.
Shamima Begum, now 21, left London in 2015 at the age of 15 and traveled to Syria with two friends from school, Reuters reported.
He later lived in Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capitol of the caliphate, and married an ISIS fighter. She has had three children since she left Britain, but all the babies have died since then.
In 2019, Begum was stripped of its British citizenship for national security reasons. However, a court ruled last year that he could only file a fair appeal if he was allowed to return to Britain.
Friday’s decision means he will have to file an appeal against the transfer of citizenship from abroad.
“The right to a fair hearing does not outweigh all other considerations, such as public safety,” said Robert Reed, the Supreme Court president. “If a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be heard fairly, the courts cannot hear it normally.”
Reed said his appeal should be suspended until he is in a safer position to participate in his case without endangering the public, according to Reuters.
“This is not a perfect solution, as it is not known how long it can take before this is possible. But there is no perfect solution to such a dilemma, ”he said.
She has said she wants to “erase her name” and has told Sky News she didn’t know what she was up to when she left.
Begum is currently in the Roj camp, run by Syrian Kurdish authorities.
Earlier this month, UN human rights experts called on 57 states, including the United Kingdom, to repatriate their citizens to the Roj and Al Hol camps.
Officials said conditions in the camps, which contain more than 65,000 people, are facing “deteriorating security” and horrific conditions.
“Thousands of people detained in the camps are exposed to violence, exploitation, abuse and deprivation under conditions and treatment that may constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law, without any “An unknown number have already died due to their conditions of detention,” the UN Human Rights Commission said in a statement.
Maya Foa, director of human rights group Reprieve, told the BBC that preventing Begum from returning to the UK remained “a cynical strategy to turn her into someone else”.
“Abandon them in a legal black hole – in conditions similar to Guantánamo, it is outside British values and the interests of justice and security, ”Foa said.