Jihadi bride Shamima Begum could use her newborn baby to get back into the UK after Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British citizenship, a leading immigration lawyer said today.
The remorseless 19-year-old is in a Syrian refugee camp with her son Jerah - apparently named after a 7th century Islamic warlord - but Mr Javid has moved to stop her returning to London after she fled to join ISIS when she was 15.
The Home Office believes that because Begum's mother was born in Bangladesh her daughter is entitled to dual citizenship meaning she would not be left stateless, which is illegal under international law.
But Begum's family says she does not have a Bangladeshi passport and has never been there, making Mr Javid's decision illegal, they claim.
Legal experts including Lord Carlile QC, Britain's former reviewer of terrorism legislation, have said that it appears the Home Office does have a genuine case to revoke her British citizenship and keep her in Syria.
But her newborn son Jerah is entitled to a British passport and could be used by his mother to fight to return to Britain on human rights grounds.
Asif Salam, a London lawyer who runs the Salam Immigration firm, said: 'Because of the child, the mother could by default get back her nationality or get a limited leave to remain - to be able to live with her child in the UK'.
Shamima Begum (right) has named her son Jerah (left being held by a friend), in what historians say is homage to an Islamic warlord, and could use him to get back into Britain
The letter obtained by ITV News asks Begum's family to inform her of the decision to revoke her citizenship and her right to appeal it
Shamima is pictured walking through Gatwick Airport on February 17 2015 as she left the UK to join ISIS
Begum's baby son Jerah is entitled to British citizenship - but could try to argue he is Dutch because of the nationality of its jihadi father Yago Riedijk (
He told the Mirror: 'The baby is British, so maintains his nationality. The child cannot possibly live without his mother, it's not in his best interest for the child to be in the UK without the mother'.
The teenager, who fled Britain with friends aged 15 and married a Dutch jihadi, has been unapologetic about ISIS' crimes and said the Manchester Arena suicide bombing could be considered 'retaliation'.
She also insists that the British public should be 'sympathetic' towards her and should be allowed back to London with her baby on human rights grounds.
But last night Sajid Javid last night moved to block her return to Britain arguing that taking away her British citizenship is 'conducive to the public good' on terrorism grounds.
Begum's family solicitor Tasnime Akunjee said Shamima said last night was 'surprised' Mr Javid had come to his conclusion.
He said the family will 'consider all legal avenues to challenge this decision' in response.
Lord Carlile QC believes that Britain does have a strong case to block her from Britain.
He said: 'The Home Office has had a good look at the law and the citizenship of Miss Begum. Under Bangladesh law if her mother is a Bangladesh national or a duel Bangladesh-British national then Miss Begum acquires Bangladesh nationality.
'She doesn't have a Bangladesh passport and apparently she's never been there but that doesn't effect that issue.
'If she is a Bangladesh national as well as a British national then the Home Secretary, on the face of it, is entitled to remove her British nationality because she does not then become stateless.
'Whether she wants to go to Bangladesh is another matter because they take quite a dim view of violent jihadism'.
He added: 'She can challenge the Home Office - she is entitled to do that - but the test will be one of reasonableness and proportionality so she would have to establish that the Home Secretary acted in an entirely disproportionate way in removing her nationality. That might be difficult for her because he appears to have acted within the law if she is entitled to Bangladeshi nationality'.
Begum's baby son Jerah is entitled to British citizenship - but could try to argue he is Dutch because of the nationality of its jihadi father Yago Riedijk.
He said: 'This is even more complicated. The baby is entitled to British nationality. The baby is probably entitled to Bangladesh nationality and the baby's father is Dutch.
'Dutch law is a little different. If the father, who is apparently still alive, says the baby is his then the baby can also receive Dutch nationality. So that means that the Home Secretary could exclude the baby from Britai because the baby would not be stateless'.
He added: 'This is going to drag on for months or even year'.
Begum's family, from Bethnal Green in east London, were notified via a letter saying Home Secretary Mr Javid had started the process that will see Begum permanently banned from the UK.
The family are 'very disappointed' by Mr Javid's decision, according to statement by Mr Akunjee.
The Home Office letter asks that they pass on the decision - including that she has a right to appeal it - to Begum, who left their home in 2015 when she ran away with two school friends to join ISIS.
She is now stranded in a refugee camp in Syria as the so-called caliphate crumbles.
'Please find enclosed papers that relate to a decision taken by the Home Secretary, to deprive your daughter, Shamima Begum, of her British citizenship,' the letter reads.
'In light of the circumstances of your daughter, the notice of the Home Secretary's decision has been served of file today, and the order removing her British citizenship has subsequently been made.'
ISIS bride Shamima Begum has had her citizenship revoked according to a letter from the Home Office to her family
Only last week Britain's MI6 chief said that UK nationals, even those who are members of terror organisations like ISIS, have a legal right to return home.
Britons who have been stripped of their citizenship
Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed earlier this month that more than 100 dual nationals who travelled to join IS have had their UK citizenship stripped by the Home Office.
But there have been a number of different reasons for which Britons have lost their citizenship over the years - not just for association with Islamic State.
The ‘deprivation orders’ can be issued only to those with dual nationality as ministers cannot take away citizenship if it would leave a suspect stateless.
Among those to have had their citizenship revoked include:
The 'Beatles' who served Jihadi John and beheaded Western hostages on camera
Two members of the Beatles, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh were captured in northern Syria in January 2018.
Alexanda Amon Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh (rigth), who were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up a brutal Islamic State cell dubbed "The Beatles
They are currently being held by western-backed Kurdish forces in Syria having been stripped of their British citizenship - with the FBI hoping to put both on trial later this year.
Elsheik, 30, is a mechanic whose family fled to the UK from Sudan in the 1990s. Kotey, 34, converted to Islam as a teenager.
The two men, who were nicknamed The Beatles by captives due to their British accents, are accused of killing 27 hostages, including British aid workers and American journalists.
Man believed responsible for brutal execution tape by Islamic State in 2014
Ali Almanasfi, 28, who was assumed dead after an ambush by Syrian government forces back in 2013, was revealed to still be alive and living in the war-torn country - it was reported in November
Scores of his friends and relatives have said that the Almanasfi was the man responsible for a brutal execution tape released by the Islamic State in 2014.
Ali Almanasfi, 28, was believed to have been killed in Syria back in 2013
He had his British citizenship revoked by the Home Office last year, a move which his brother says means he will 'die there'.
Almanasfi was said to have fallen in with Mohammed Emwazi and Alexe Kotey, who would later become members of the ISIS execution gang known as ‘The Beatles’, after being jailed for a violent assault.
Nigerian man known as L2 feared to be planning Paris-style terror attack
A Nigerian man closely linked to a group of British Islamists was stripped of his British citizenship in 2013 over fears he was planning a Paris-style terror attack in London.
The man, known only as L2 for legal reasons, was a member of the now banned radical group, al Muhajiroun, and was associated with friends of Lee Rigby's killer Michael Adebolajo and Jihadi John.
His British nationality was removed by Theresa May after he was deemed such a threat to national security that she personally signed off on an order removing his citizenship.
Members of Rochdale paedophile ring
Taxi drivers Abdul Aziz, 47, Adil Khan, 48, and Abdul Rauf, 48, were among nine men jailed over appalling crimes against girls in Greater Manchester in 2012.
Abdul Aziz (left), 47, and Abdul Rauf (right), 48, are taxi drivers who were both jailed
The then home secretary Theresa May ruled in 2015 that all three men - who have dual British and Pakistani nationality - should have their names deleted from the roll of British citizens.
The Pakistani men were convicted in May 2012 of preying on girls in Rochdale, plying them with drink and drugs before they were ‘passed around’ for sex.
In December, Sajid Javid defended the Government's right to strip the men of their British citizenship and deport them back to Pakistan.
Government guidance from 2017 states that the Home Secretary has the power to order the deprivation if it would be 'conducive to the public good', as long as they are not left without any citizenship.
A Home Office spokesman said he could not discuss individual cases, but added: 'We don't leave people stateless.'
Mr Javid on Monday told the House of Commons: 'The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship.'
Over 100 people have already been deprived in this way.
What will happen to Begum's new born son, however, remains unclear.
He was born before his mother was deprived of citizenship - meaning he is still legally British.
And while theoretically he could also have his citizenship revoked, the government would need to show he himself posed a threat.
Begum's first two children both died of unknown illnesses under ISIS.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey accused Mr Javid of 'an abdication of responsibility' by 'palming off' Begum on to another country.
'The UK has more than enough terrorism laws to prosecute Shamima Begum here,' he said.
Meanwhile Conservative chair of the Commons Education Committee, Robert Halfon, who had spoken out against allowing Begum to return, said in a tweet that Mr Javid had made 'absolutely the right decision'.
The move comes after Begum returned to the public eye when she was found heavily pregnant living in a refugee camp in northern Syria.
She gave birth to a boy over the weekend, having already lost two children, and made pleas for forgiveness and to be accepted back in the UK.
Earlier on Tuesday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the 19-year-old could expect to be 'spoken to' if she comes back to Britain.
The initial police stance when Ms Begum left the UK in 2015 was that she may be treated as a victim of grooming, but the Scotland Yard chief said: 'We're a long way down the road since then.'
She added: 'If she does, under whatever circumstances, arrive at our borders, somebody in her type of circumstances could expect, of course, to be spoken to and, if there is the appropriate necessity, to be potentially arrested and certainly investigated.
'If that results in sufficient evidence for a prosecution then it will result in sufficient evidence for a prosecution.
'The officers will deal with whatever they are confronted with.'
On Monday in an interview with the BBC Ms Begum compared the Manchester Arena bombing to military strikes on Isis strongholds, calling the terror attack 'retaliation'.
There are currently plans to change the law to make travelling to certain terror hotspots a criminal offence, but this would not apply retrospectively to Ms Begum.
Around 425 suspected jihadi fighters are thought to have returned to the UK from Syria so far.
Before today's decision, the Home Secretary had already hinted that he would block Begum from returning to the UK.
Earlier this week Mr Javid told MPs that no British troops would be used to rescue any Britons who travelled to Syria to support terrorism.
He said more than 900 people went to Syria or Iraq, adding: 'Whatever role they took in the so-called caliphate, they all supported a terrorist organisation and in doing so they have shown they hate our country and the values we stand for.'
He went on: 'Now this so-called caliphate is crumbling, some of them want to return and I have been very clear where I can and where any threat remains I will not hesitate to prevent this.
'The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship.'
Begum later told ITV News she did not see why the Home Secretary would see her as a threat.
'I'm a 19-year-old girl with a new born baby. I don't have any weapons; I don't want to hurt anyone even if I did have weapons or anything,' she said.
'He has no proof that I was a threat other than that I was in ISIS, that's it.'
Ms Dick said: 'This case and other cases that are talked about in the same sentences just really underline how awful the circumstances are and have been in Syria and just how dangerous it has been, and would continue to be, for anybody from this country to think of travelling there.
'Dangerous physically and dangerous legally.
'If there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution it is our job to look at the threat they pose if they are returning from Syria and we do that with every single person who comes back from Syria and then manage the risk with colleagues in the (security and intelligence) agencies.'
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick previously said counter-terrorism police officers will 'deal with whatever they are confronted with' if Begum returns to the UK
Begum ran away to marry an ISIS fighter four years ago - but now wants to return to the UK after the terror group's so-called 'caliphate' crumbled into dust.
The young mother also shrugged off the murders of British terror victims in an interview as she claimed they were 'retaliation' for the war being fought against ISIS.
On Monday Begum told the BBC's Quentin Sommerville that she's prepared to be jailed, was a 'poster girl' for the group and still has 'sympathy' for IS.
Mr Sommerville said she had 'little to offer' in apology to the millions of Iraqis and Syrians whose lives were destroyed by Isis.
The BBC's Middle East correspondent added that when she was asked about the treatment of Yazidi women by Isis, she said: 'Shia do the same in Iraq.'
The campaign by Begum's family to have her returned to Britain sparked fresh controversy on Monday when the lawyer representing them, Tasnime Akunjee, compared the radicalised youngster to a 'traumatised' First World War soldier in a TV interview.
When Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Madeley insisted she doesn't look very traumatised, Mr Akunjee replied: 'You might have said the same thing about a First World War soldier in the middle of shell-shock... they are both [in] warzones.'
It also emerged that Begum has called her son Jerah, in what historians have interpreted as a reference to Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, a 7th century Islamic warlord.
In other developments yesterday:
- A report revealed that a total of 156 cases involving children in danger of being radicalised had come before the British family courts since 2013;
- It emerged that a jihadi bride who returned to the UK from Isis territory had been told by the High Court last year that she was too dangerous to raise her toddler daughter;
- Scotland Yard commissioner Cressida Dick admitted that Isis brides could not be prosecuted for simply going to Syria.
Mr Javid has the power to strip someone of their British citizenship if they are suspected of being involved in terrorist activity on the basis that that their presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good.
However, he can't exercise this power if it will leave someone stateless. Therefore it has to be used on those with dual nationality.
Sources last night claimed that in Begum's case, she would not be left stateless because she has dual British and Bangladeshi citizenship.
But her family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said the teenager was born in London and has only ever held a British passport.
The Home Office is understood to have invoked a Bangladeshi law whereby offspring of those born in Bangladesh are automatically entitled to citizenship of that country.
But it is likely that Bangladesh also has an option to refuse entry to those it considers a security risk.
The plight of Begum's new baby son remains unknown and it is not clear whether the ban on entering Britain also applies to the infant. Her first two children both died of unknown illnesses under Isis.
Last night Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey accused Mr Javid of 'an abdication of responsibility' by 'palming off' Begum onto another country.
'The UK has more than enough terrorism laws to prosecute Shamima Begum here,' he said. 'It's disappointing that the Home Secretary has so little confidence in our justice system.
'It is not only hard to see Ms Begum and her baby as constituting a serious threat to national security, but it also seems a huge wasted opportunity. We can learn lessons as to why a young girl went to Syria in the first place; lessons which could improve Britain's security by helping us prevent this happening again.'
Labour MP Stella Creasy added: 'However horrific her defence of Isis, if the Home Secretary can start with stripping this woman and her week-old child of their citizenship for his leadership bid... where does it end?'
Shamima Begum, 19 (pictured before she left the country four years ago) is pleading with the government to allow her back into Britain
Who were the five Bethnal Green girls who went to join ISIS?
Sharmeena Begum - Flew to Turkey from London Heathrow in December 2014. No relation to Shamima.
Unnamed 15-year-old - tried to go to Turkey on the same 2014 flight but was stopped before take-off.
Shamima Begum - One of the three who flew from London Gatwick to Turkey in February 2015 and then went on to Syria. Has pleaded to be allowed to return to the UK with newborn son.
Kadiza Sultana (left) and Amira Abase (right) from Bethnal Green in east London, travelled with Shamima Begum to Syria in 2015
Amira Abase - Flew out in 2015 with Shamima who said in yesterday's interview she did not know whether Ms Abase was still alive.
Kadiza Sultana - Also flew out in 2015. Believed to have been killed in an airstrike in 2016.
Shamima Begum (left), who appeared on Sky News on Sunday pleading for sympathy, is like a shell-shocked First World War soldier, her lawyer Tasnime Akunjee (right) claimed
Immigration judges also have the power to reverse decisions to strip citizenship. Two alleged extremists who were stripped of their citizenship by the Home Office won their appeals three months ago on the grounds that the government's intervention was 'unlawful'.
The furore erupted after a heavily pregnant Begum was found at a refugee camp in northern Syria by a journalist from The Times.
Like other jihadi brides, she had fled the collapsing caliphate and begged to return to the UK so the NHS can care for her baby.
She declared no remorse over joining Isis and told how seeing a 'severed head' did not faze her.
After giving birth in the camp, she said she did not regret going to Syria because it 'made her stronger' - but said that people 'should have sympathy' towards her.
In one incendiary interview, the jihadi bride said she the devastating bombing on an Ariana Grade concert in 2017 which killed 22 innocent people was 'retaliation' for 'women and children' being bombed in Syria.
Survivors of the Manchester atrocity called her comments 'outrageous' and said she should not be allowed back into the country.
Alex Klis, 21, from York, whose parents Marcin, 42, Angelika, 49, were killed by the blast, told ITV: 'I think she's comparing two things that shouldn't ever be compared. She's saying that there are fighters in Islamic State that are getting killed.
'Those people go there knowing what to expect. People who went to the Manchester Arena, they went there to take their kids to a concert.
'She's out of order, comparing those two things... She's made her bed. I think she should remain where she is.' Begum said before she fled to Syria with fellow Bethnal Green Academy schoolgirls Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, she watched Isis videos of 'beheadings'.
She also watched propaganda videos before settling in Raqqa and marrying Yago Riedijk, a convicted terrorist who police believe was part of a cell plotting an atrocity in Europe.
The letter from the Home Office to Begum's mother urged her to make her daughter aware of the decision, but added that she had a right to appeal.
Mr Akunjee said he was considering 'all legal avenues to challenge this decision'.
'The family are very disappointed with the Home Office's intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship,' he said. 'The Home Office has tried to do this before and they have lost before.' Earlier, the Met Commissioner said if the teenager returned to the UK she could face questioning but that the current law might not be sufficient to see her prosecuted. She added that many of those who have returned have led 'peaceful lives'.
'If she does, under whatever circumstances, arrive at our borders, somebody in her type of circumstances could expect, of course, to be spoken to and, if there is the appropriate necessity, to be potentially arrested and certainly investigated,' Miss Dick said.
'If there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution, it is our job to look at the threat they pose if they are returning from Syria. We do that with every single person who comes back from Syria and then manage the risk with colleagues in the [security and intelligence] agencies.' There are currently plans to change the law to make travelling to certain terror hotspots a criminal offence, but this would not apply retrospectively to Begum.
Around 425 suspected jihadi fighters are thought to have returned to the UK from Syria so far.
'Remorseless' ISIS terror-bride Shamima Begum STILL supports rape and murder of Yazidi sex slaves
Shamima Begum left East London with two friends in 2015 to join Isis
Islamic State bride Shamima Begum still supports the enslavement, murder and rape of Yazidi women, it has emerged.
The mother-of-three, 19, who left Bethnal Green in East London with two friends in 2015 to join the terrorist group, has admitted she believes Isis propaganda.
And when she was asked by the BBC about the treatment of Yazidi women by Isis, she said: 'Shia do the same in Iraq.'
Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville, who spoke to Begum, said she had 'little to offer' by way of apology to the millions of Iraqi and Syrian people whose lives were destroyed by Isis.
Begum has named her son Jerah, in what historians say is homage to an Islamic warlord
BBC Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville tweeted about his interview with Begum
The Yazidis are a religious minority in northern Iraq and Syria who suffered immensely at the hands of Isis, with women and children sold as sex slaves at auctions and thousands more killed.
Begum was partly inspired to flee Britain by videos of fighters beheading hostages and partly by other propaganda films showing the 'good life' Isis could offer.
Since she has been there, her two older children have died. The teenager insisted she did not ask to be the subject of international media attention.
She said: 'I didn't want to be on the news at first. I know a lot of people, after they saw that me and my friends came, it actually encouraged them.
Displaced Yazidi people flee violence from Islamic State forces in Sinjar, Iraq, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah governorate in August 2014
'I did hear, yeah, a lot of people were encouraged to come after I left but I wasn't the one that put myself on the news. We didn't want to be on the news.'
But Sara Khan, the UK's Lead Commissioner for Countering Extremism, has branded Begum a 'remorseless supporter of Daesh [ISIS]'.
Ms Khan said more needs to be done to stop the spread of extremist material online.
She told Radio 4's Today programme: 'It's important to understand when she travelled … she was aware of Daesh beheadings and executions … was becoming more religiously inclined. There are questions about how a young girl was exposed to extremist ideology.'
photo link
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/will-isis-bride-shamima-begum-use-her-baby-as-a-back-door-into-britain/
News Photo Will ISIS bride Shamima Begum use her BABY as a back door into Britain?
Advertising
You don’t have to pack away your dress just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/02/19/11/9923302-6720367-Begum_has_named_her_son_Jerah_in_what_historians_say_is_homage_t-a-3_1550576608969.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий