‘ISIL bride’ can return UK to fight for citizenship

Shamima Begum, 20, a woman who had the citizenship of the United Kingdom revoked after she travelled to Syria to join the IS group, should be allowed to return home to challenge the decision, a UK court has ruled. Begum was 15 when she and two other schoolgirls from Bethnal Green in east London left home to join the armed group on February 17, 2015. She claims she married a Dutch convert soon after arriving in ISIL-held territory. She was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019. The then-home secretary, Sajid Javid, annulled Begum's British citizenship on national security grounds. That prompted her to take legal action, arguing the decision was unlawful and made her stateless. The UK-born Begum is of Bangladeshi heritage. But Bangladesh has said it would not consider granting her citizenship.

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