British-born woman who joined ISIS as a teen loses appeal against removal of citizenship

Screen capture from video of an interview with Shamima Begum, right, a British teen who joined the Islamic State. Her newborn baby is held by a woman, left, during the interview from Syria, February 2019. (YouTube)
Screen capture from video of an interview with Shamima Begum, right, a British teen who joined the Islamic State. Her newborn baby is held by a woman, left, during the interview from Syria, February 2019. (YouTube)

British-born Shamima Begum, who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State, loses her latest appeal over the removal of her British citizenship.

The British government took away Begum’s citizenship on national security grounds in 2019, shortly after she was found in a detention camp in Syria.

Begum, now 24, argued the decision was unlawful, in part because British officials failed to properly consider whether she was a victim of trafficking, an argument that was rejected by a lower court in February 2023.

The Court of Appeal in London rejected her appeal on Friday following an appeal in October.

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