A British-born woman who traveled to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State has lost her latest appeal against the removal of her UK citizenship, with a judge ruling she was a possible trafficker. There were insufficient grounds to restore his citizenship.
The British government revoked Shamima Begum’s British citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds, shortly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.
On Wednesday, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission – a specialist tribunal that hears appeals against decisions to remove citizenship on national security grounds – rejected Begum’s appeal.
His lawyers said they would challenge the verdict.
Begum is currently being held in a detention camp in north-eastern Syria.
Announcing the tribunal’s decision, Judge Robert Jay said there was a “credible suspicion” that Begum had been taken to Syria for the purposes of “sexual exploitation”, but that the suspicion was insufficient for her appeal to succeed.
