HUMAN rights campaigners have called the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Shamima Begum's appeal against the stripping of her British citizenship “profoundly wrong.”
Judges said the 24-year-old could not appeal against an earlier Court of Appeal ruling.
It was her last chance within the British legal system to challenge the government’s decision to revoke her citizenship on national security grounds after she travelled to Syria as a teenager to join the Islamic State group.
Lawyers for Ms Begum, who left Bethnal Green, east London, with two schoolfriends in 2015, have said they will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds described the ruling as “deeply concerning” as she was “now exiled in dangerous and inhuman conditions” in a Syrian detention camp.
“Stripping Shamima Begum’s nationality was profoundly wrong — she is and has always been British,” he added.
Maya Foa, the joint executive director of Reprieve, said: “If Shamima Begum has committed crimes, she can be charged and prosecuted in a British court.
“The UK is more than capable of handling the case of a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was groomed online by an organised trafficking operation.
“Court of Appeal judges recognised that Shamima Begum had her citizenship stripped for political reasons, not on the basis of national security, but concluded they were not able to check the extreme powers currently wielded by the home secretary.
“The Supreme Court has now agreed that, in practice, stripping Ms Begum’s citizenship leaves her stateless.
“Exiling British nationals like Ms Begum is about politics, not the law.
“The prior government’s failed do-nothing approach must be abandoned.
“Our politicians should take responsibility and repatriate the small number of British families in this position so their cases can be dealt with here in Britain.”
Ms Begum was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019 by then home secretary Sajid Javid, leaving her unable to return to Britain.
The Home Office said it noted the decision of the Supreme Court, but that it “would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Birnberg Peirce legal practice said in a statement: “On behalf of Ms Begum we, her lawyers, will take every possible legal step, including to petition the European Court of Human Rights.
“This is an issue that can and should, as the US urges, be resolved for all nationals by their own countries.”
