London Court To Consider Appeal Of IS Militant's Spouse To Return UK Citizenship - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2022) A court in London will begin hearing the appeal of Shamima Begum, who was stripped of UK citizenship for joining the Islamic State and marrying one of its militants, the SkyNews broadcaster reported on Monday.

At the age of 15, Begum reportedly ran away from her family in London to Syria, to join ISIS (banned in Russia as a terrorist organization). There she married one of its militants, who himself came from the Netherlands. Three children were born in this marriage.

In early 2019, the UK government stripped Begum of citizenship, as she intended to return to the country with her only surviving son. The son was allowed to return alone, since he was born before the government decision and, therefore, was still a UK citizen. The boy died in March 2019.

In August, Begum claimed in a book that she was smuggled into Syria by a Canadian undercover agent, who used her and two other girls to join ISIS.

Begum's lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, said there was hope that new facts proving Begum was a victim of human trafficking would help resolve the case in their favor, according to the SkyNews report.

"One of the main arguments will be that, when former home secretary Sajid Javid stripped Shamima Begum of her citizenship, leaving her in Syria, he did not consider that she was a victim of trafficking", Akunjee was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission will consider the appeal. The hearing is expected to take five days.

In 2019 Begum said that she was merely "a housewife for the entire four years (of being a wife of an ISIS fighter)" and never participated in any sort of crimes, including killing or terrorist attacks. Currently, she is living in a refugee camp in northern Syria.