Shamima Begum’s fight to be regranted UK citizenship to be restarted today

Shamima Begum’s legal fight to regain her British citizenship is set to begin today (24 October) at the Court of Appeal.

Aged just 15-years-old at the time, Begum and two of her friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana left their homes in East London to travel to Turkey in 2015.

A week after arriving in the country, the teenagers then crossed the boarder into Syria and joined Islamic State.

Begum went on to marry convicted terrorist, Yago Riedijk, and later revealed that she gave birth to three children, all of whom died.

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In 2019, the UK government stripped her of her British citizenship, meaning she has not been allowed to return to the country.

However, starting today will be a three-day hearing at the Court of Appeal in London.

Begum - now aged 24 - lost a challenge against the decision to strip her of her citizenship on national security grounds at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in February.

High Court Judge Mr Justice Jay said in a ruling that while there was a 'credible suspicion that Ms Begum was recruited, transferred and then harboured for the purpose of sexual exploitation', this did not prevent then-home secretary Sajid Javid from removing her citizenship.

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During a five-day hearing in November 2022, Ms Begum’s lawyers argued she should have been viewed as a victim of child trafficking and that she was 'persuaded, influenced and affected with her friends by a determined and effective Isis propaganda machine'.

In the ruling, Mr Justice Jay said: “This Secretary of State… maintains that national security is a weighty factor and that it would take a very strong countervailing case to outweigh it.

“Reasonable people will profoundly disagree with the Secretary of State, but that raises wider societal and political questions which it is not the role of this commission to address.”

Mr Justice Jay also said the case had been 'of great concern and difficulty'.

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Speaking about her case in 2020, Begum said that she believes she could do a lot of good if she were allowed to return to the UK.

"I could be used as an example, like you don't want to end up like her," she explained.

"If it stops children making the same mistake that I made of course use me as an example.

"Tell the kids 'don't be like her, don't become like her'."

The hearing before the Lady Chief Justice Lady Carr, Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Whipple is due to begin at 10.30am.