Shamima Begum will not be able to appeal the removal of her British citizenship at the Supreme Court, judges have ruled.
Begum, 24, who travelled to Syria with two friends at the age of 15, had her citizenship revoked on national security grounds after being found in a Syrian refugee camp in 2019.
In Syria, Begum married an IS fighter and gave birth to three children, all of whom died as infants.
Begum, from east London, had argued the decision to revoke her citizenship was unlawful, in part because British officials failed to properly consider whether she was a victim of trafficking.
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But that argument was thrown out by both a specialist tribunal in February 2023 and then the Court of Appeal last February.
On Wednesday, justices at the UK’s highest court said Begum could not appeal again.
In their decision, Lords Reed, Hodge and Lloyd-Jones found her proposed appeal grounds “do not raise an arguable point of law”.
The three justices said there was no arguable challenge to the Court of Appeal’s decision, including on whether Begum should have been able to make representations to the then home secretary before she was stripped of her citizenship.
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Dismissing her Court of Appeal challenge in February, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, said: “It could be argued the decision in Ms Begum’s case was harsh.
“It could also be argued that Ms Begum is the author of her own misfortune, but it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view.
“The only task of the court was to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful.
“Since it was not, Ms Begum’s appeal is dismissed.”
In March, Court of Appeal judges rejected Begum’s initial bid to take her case to the Supreme Court.
Source Agencies
