The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled on Friday that a British-born woman who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join ISIS poses a security risk and will not be allowed to return to Britain to fight for her citizenship.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, officially known as the Islamic State and also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, is a former unrecognized proto-state that follows a Salafi jihadist doctrine.
Shamima Begum, now 21, left London in 2015 at the age of 15 and travelled to Syria with two school friends, Reuters reported.
She later lived in Raqqa, the caliphate’s self-declared capital, and married an ISIS fighter. She had three children since leaving Britain but all of the infants have since died, the outlet noted.
She has stripped off her British citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds.
Friday’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling overturned a decision by the Court of Appeal last year, which had held that she must be allowed to return so that she can have a fair appeal against the citizenship decision.
“The right to a fair hearing does not trump all other considerations, such as the safety of the public,” said Robert Reed, the President of the Supreme Court. “If a vital public interest makes it impossible for a case to be fairly heard, then the courts cannot ordinarily hear it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the ruling, his spokesman said, adding the government’s priority was “maintaining our national security”.
