Shamima Begum was 'trafficking victim', her lawyer tells court

SHAMIMA BEGUM, who left Britain to join Daesh (Islamic State group) and had her British citizenship revoked was a victim of human trafficking, a court has heard on Friday (18).

She was a 15-year-old schoolgirl when she travelled from London to Syria with two fellow pupils in February 2015.

Britain's interior ministry revoked her citizenship on national security grounds after she was discovered heavily pregnant in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.

The Court of Appeal ruled last July that Begum could return to Britain to challenge the decision.

But the Supreme Court in February overturned the lower court ruling, and prevented her from doing so on national security grounds.

Begum, now 21, is challenging the interior ministry's decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that deals with deportations on national security grounds and the revocation of citizenship.

Her lawyer, Samantha Knights, claimed Begum was "a child trafficked to and remaining in Syria for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced marriage".

She also argued that revoking Begum's citizenship left her stateless and the decision was procedurally unfair.

The court was told Begum was living in a "dire" and "fundamentally unsafe environment in which violence is endemic" in the al-Roj refugee camp in northern Syria.

Knights added there was a "serious and present danger" to Begum after the media located her whereabouts and due to her engagement with Western legal processes.

The lawyer argued against delaying her appeal until the conclusion of a separate case in March 2022.

Lawyer David Blundell, representing Britain's interior ministry, said Begum should not be allowed to change the grounds of her appeal.

"The absence of a claim that she has been trafficked means this ground proceeds on an uncertain factual basis. It is entirely speculative," he said.

An estimated 900 Britons travelled to Syria and Iraq to join IS. The government has prosecuted returnees and revoked more than 150 people's citizenship, with unconfirmed numbers stuck in Syria.

During a recent interview with journalist Andrew Drury, she had said: “I don’t think I was a terrorist. I think I was just a dumb kid who made one mistake.

“I personally don’t think that I need to be rehabilitated, but I would want to help other people be rehabilitated. I would love to help.”

At the end of the interview when Drury asked what she would say to those in the UK who do not want her to return, Begum had said: “Can I come home please, pretty please?”