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Shamima Begum 'Angry' After Supreme Court Rules She Can't Return To UK

Shamima Begum 'Angry' After Supreme Court Rules She Can't Return To UK

She left London to join ISIS when she was 15

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

Shamima Begum is 'angry' after the Supreme Court ruled she will not be allowed to return to the UK to fight her citizenship battle.

Begum left London with friends when she was 15, travelling to Syria to join ISIS. She was subsequently stripped of her British citizenship following the collapse of ISIS, having been found living in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.

Now, five Supreme Court justices have unanimously rejected her request to return to the UK to fight for her citizenship.

Her friends told Sky News: "She's very angry. And she's very upset and crying. She doesn't want to talk to us."

Begum left the UK when she was 15.
PA

Announcing the ruling, Lord Reed stated that the case would represent a risk to the safety of the public if Begum was in attendance.

He said: "The right to a fair hearing does not trump all other considerations, such as the safety of the public.

"If a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be fairly heard then the courts cannot ordinarily hear it.

"The appropriate response to the problem in the present case is for the deprivation hearing to be stayed - or postponed - until Ms Begum is in a position to play an effective part in it without the safety of the public being compromised.

"That is not a perfect solution, as it is not known how long it may be before that is possible.

"But there is no perfect solution to a dilemma of the present kind."

Home secretary Priti Patel hailed the ruling.

She said: "The Supreme Court has unanimously found in favour of the Government's position, and reaffirmed the Home Secretary's authority to make vital national security decisions.

"The Government will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of our citizens."

Begum is said to be 'angry' with the court's decision.
PA

Begum is currently living in the Roj camp in northern Syria, which is controlled by armed guards.

She is married to Dutch terrorist Yago Riedijk and has lost three young children. The friends she left London with are thought to have been killed in the conflict.

Last year, a lower court had ruled she would be allowed to return to the UK to fight the government's decision to revoke her nationality. And at the end of July, the government launched its appeal against Ms Begum being allowed to return to the UK to fight her legal case.

Speaking at the time, Ms Begum's solicitor Daniel Furner said: "Ms Begum has never had a fair opportunity to give her side of the story.

"She is not afraid of facing British justice, she welcomes it. But the stripping of her citizenship without a chance to clear her name is not justice, it is the opposite."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, crime