Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has pledged to 'robustly defend' the government's contentious decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship. This sets the stage for a potential legal confrontation with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.
ECHR Questions UK Over Human Rights and Trafficking Laws
The ECHR has formally asked the UK Home Office to justify its stance, questioning whether officials broke human rights and anti-trafficking laws when revoking Begum's citizenship. This line of inquiry forms the core of Begum's latest legal argument.
Begum's legal team, Birnberg Peirce Solicitors, hailed the court's intervention as an 'unprecedented opportunity' to address issues they claim have been ignored by previous UK administrations. Lawyer Gareth Peirce argued it was 'impossible to dispute' that Begum, then 15, was lured and trafficked for sexual exploitation to ISIS territory in 2015.
A Lengthy Legal Battle and Political Backing
The case has a long and complex history. Shamima Begum, from Bethnal Green, London, travelled to Syria as a teenager in 2015. She was found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019, after which then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid immediately revoked her citizenship on national security grounds.
Since then, Begum has pursued a series of unsuccessful appeals in UK courts:
- She lost at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in February 2023.
- The Court of Appeal rejected her challenge in February 2024.
- The Supreme Court denied her permission to appeal in August 2024.
Following these domestic defeats, her lawyers lodged the case with the European Court of Human Rights in December 2024. The government has received strong political backing for its position. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and the Conservative Party insist Begum should not be allowed back into the UK 'under any circumstances', citing her voluntary support for ISIS.
National Security and Legal Precedent
A government source stated that the Home Secretary will always put 'this country's national security first'. They emphasised that the decision to revoke Begum's citizenship has been 'tested and upheld time and again in our domestic courts'.
This stance is supported by recent legislative changes. In October 2024, a new law came into force preventing extremists stripped of citizenship from regaining their status after a successful first appeal. They must now wait until all appeal proceedings are complete.
Official figures show that between 2018 and 2023, an average of 12 people per year were deprived of their citizenship on grounds that it was 'conducive to the public good', typically for reasons related to terrorism or serious organised crime.
The Home Office maintains its position, with a spokesperson stating: 'We will robustly defend any decision made to protect our national security.' The stage is now set for a significant legal and diplomatic clash between the UK government and the Strasbourg court.
