UK: JUDGEMENT ON SHAMIMA BEGUM’S CITIZENSHIP IS ‘DISAPPOINTING’

Shamima Begum had lived all her life in the UK right up to the point she was lured to Syria as an impressionable 15-year-old

Responding to news that Shamima Begum has lost her appeal at the Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal over the stripping of her UK citizenship, Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said:

“This is a very disappointing decision.

“The Home Secretary shouldn’t be in the business of exiling British citizens by stripping them of their citizenship.

“The power to banish a citizen like this simply shouldn’t exist in the modern world, not least when we’re talking about a person who was seriously exploited as a child.

“Shamima Begum had lived all her life in the UK right up to the point she was lured to Syria as an impressionable 15-year-old.

“ISIS have been responsible for appalling crimes in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, but that doesn’t change that Shamima Begum is British and was groomed and trafficked to Syria.

“Along with thousands of others, including large numbers of women and children, this young British woman is now trapped in a dangerous refugee camp in a war-torn country and left largely at the mercy of gangs and armed groups.

“Just as other nations have done, the UK should be helping any of its citizens stranded in Syria – including by assisting in their safe return to the UK, whether or not that means facing possible criminal investigation or prosecution.”