The Court Heard Shamima Begum Became A Victim Of Human Trafficking When She Lleft The UK For Syria
Lawyers say the Home Office did not adequately check whether Begum grew up before her British citizenship was revoked.
Shamima Begum's lawyers argued in the Court of Appeal on Tuesday that the withdrawal of her British citizenship was unlawful because she was trafficked as a 15-year-old when she left the United Kingdom. .
Samantha Knights KC, his lawyer, said at the start of the three-day hearing that the Home Office and the lower court had not sufficiently considered whether he was undergoing treatment - and called for the court's decision.
The Knights accused Sajid Javid, the then home secretary who revoked her citizenship, of failing to take into account whether Begum, then a student in east London, was groomed and trafficked, thereby breaching the protections under British law. Anti-slavery law.
"The applicant's trafficking was a compelling and relevant factor in determining whether the withdrawal of her citizenship was in the public interest and proportionate, but the Home Office did not take this into account," Knights said in a written statement. “Therefore, the decision to deprive him of his liberty was unlawful.
The interim decision of the Special Immigration Appeals Committee (SIAC) made in February this year upholding Javid's decision should also be overturned by the Court of Appeal on similar grounds, the Knights added.
Although the Siac Tribunal accepted that there were credible suspicions that Begum had been "recruited, transferred and subsequently detained for the purpose of sexual exploitation", this was "not sufficient" for the Commission to announce the Home Secretary's decision in its judgment could. .
The Interior Ministry, whose hearing begins on Wednesday, objects to this claim, citing national security. He argues that just because a person has been manipulated does not mean they cannot pose a terrorist threat.
The hearing before three senior judges is the latest step in a long legal battle stemming from Javid's decision to strip Begum of her British citizenship in 2019 after she was arrested by Syrian Kurdish forces following the defeat of the Islamic State.
Begum left her home in Bethnal Green, east London, with two school friends in 2015 and traveled to Syria to live under Islamic State rule. In an interview shortly after the terror group's defeat, she said: "I have no regrets about coming here."
This led Javid to revoke her British citizenship on the grounds that it would "contribute to the common good" and that her citizenship would not be revoked as she could apply for Bangladeshi citizenship through her parents even if she had never been to this country. Bangladesh. the country and said he didn't want it.
Begum is being held by the Kurds in northeastern Syria and recently said she regretted her decision - she claimed she would "rather die than return to ISIS" - and that she would be prepared to face terrorism charges if the needs of ISIS would prove necessary. . British court.
The case has already been heard once by the Supreme Court, which largely ruled against Begum but gave her the option of pursuing further legal proceedings if she could give appropriate instructions to her legal advisers - leading to another economic series.
The Knights' written statement to the Court of Appeal said Begum had been "prepared over the preceding months" before she left the UK in February 2015 and that her journey had been "facilitated by a man working for Isil [ Islamic State] is working.” who "was also an agent of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service."
Begum was picked up at the Istanbul bus station to continue her journey to Syria by a man named Mohammed al-Rashed, who, according to British police, also acted as an informant for the Canadian spy service CSIS.
Her lawyers also blamed "state failure" that allowed her to leave the UK, with the Metropolitan Police, her school and Tower Hamlets council effectively contributing to Begum's trafficking through their failures.
"The State's failure in this case was extremely significant given the measures that the State authorities could easily have taken to protect the applicant and prevent her from leaving the United Kingdom, and given the speed at which with which the complainant's family reacted when informed of her death and disappearance" - the Knights told the court.
Written submissions from Sir James Eadi KC on behalf of the Home Office show that the law gave Javid discretion as to the factors to be taken into account before deciding to revoke a person's British citizenship.
“The foreign secretary was fully aware of the possibility that she had been “manipulated or radicalized” before the trip, Eadie said. “So the only question was how much weight to give to these factors. That was a matter for the Foreign Minister.
British intelligence agency MI5 told Javid, as revealed in previous hearings, that Begum remained in Islamic State territory for four years, until she turned 19, and worked with the terrorist group.“Public opinion [in the UK] is extremely hostile,” the agency added.
Court of Appeal hearings are expected to conclude on Thursday and a decision will be made at a later date. The presiding judges are Lady Chief Justice Lady Carr, Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Whipple.
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