Despite her legal battle, Shamima Begum still cannot return to the UK. British justice confirmed on Wednesday the forfeiture of nationality of this young woman who had joined the jihadist group Islamic State in Syria at the age of 15. Illustrating the challenge posed to Western governments by the return of their jihadist nationals and their families, this case of this former London high school student had marked public opinion.
London had stripped Shamima Begum of her British nationality in 2019, citing national security. But the young woman, now 23 and still in a camp in Syria, had appealed this decision. This judgment means that she is not allowed to return to the UK. The Minister of the Interior welcomed this decision. “The government’s priority remains (…) the security of the United Kingdom and we will strongly defend any decision taken in this direction,” said a spokesman.
Bangladeshi by her parents
In early 2015, Shamima Begum left her east London neighborhood with two friends. In Syria, she married an ISIS jihadist of Dutch origin, eight years her senior, and had two children who died young. After fleeing the fighting, she found herself in February 2019 in a Syrian camp. Pregnant with a child who died shortly after birth, which had sparked criticism of the British government, she expressed the wish to return to the United Kingdom but London stripped her of her nationality.
In early 2020, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) ruled that the decision did not make Shamima stateless, as she was Bangladeshi by her parents. But Dhaka refused to take her in because she had never applied for Bangladeshi nationality. The appeal against this forfeiture was examined in November by the SIAC.
Suspicions of “sexual exploitation”
In its judgment delivered on Wednesday, the Commission acknowledged that there is a “credible suspicion” that Shamima Begum was trafficked to Syria for the purpose of “sexual exploitation” and also that services of the State committed “questionable breaches of duty” in allowing him to travel to that country. But the judge considered that this “suspicion” was “insufficient” for Shamima Begum’s defense arguments to prevail.
During the hearing in November, the girl’s defense presented her as a victim of trafficking set up by IS. “This case concerns a 15-year-old British child who was influenced (…) by the efficient and determined IS propaganda machine (…) to be given in marriage to an IS fighter,” her husband said. attorney Samantha Knights. “It’s a matter of national security (…) It’s not a case of child trafficking,” pleaded government lawyer James Eadie.
From lack of regret to pleas
In 2021, Shamima Begum begged the UK to let her back. “I know that I did nothing in the IS apart from being a mother and a wife”, had declared, in a tank top, the young woman on the ITV channel. “The only crime I committed was being stupid enough to join IS.” But she had sparked outrage the previous year in an interview where she expressed no regrets. She then wore a black veil falling to her feet.
In a BBC podcast released in January, she defends herself from being a “bad person”. She explains that she understands people’s anger against her. “But I don’t think it’s against me. I think it’s against IS. When they think of IS, they think of me because I got so much publicity,” she said. The return of the families of jihadists captured or killed in Syria and Iraq has been a delicate issue in several countries, particularly in Europe, since the fall in 2019 of the “caliphate” of IS.
