The Shamima Begum ruling proves it: some UK citizens are less equal than others
The Shamima Begum ruling proves it: some UK citizens are less equal than others
Any British person who has a foreign-born parent will feel their status is more precarious, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams
Any British person who has a foreign-born parent will feel their status is more precarious after the court of appeal decision
The court of appeal ruled this morning that Shamima Begum had been lawfully deprived of her British citizenship. The 24-year-old’s citizenship was first revoked in 2019. She challenged that decision at a special immigration appeals commission last year, and lost. This latest ruling might represent the end of her hope to return home, although given the young woman’s circumstances – all three of her children have died, she lives in a refugee camp they call the “mini caliphate”, and is thought of only periodically by her countrymen in order to be pilloried then forgotten again – it would be foolish to try to guess at her levels of resilience or despair.
The judges were careful to stress that the ruling didn’t represent any comment on the sympathy or otherwise it was reasonable to have for Begum – rather, that there was nothing unlawful in Sajid Javid’s deprivation decision. The ruling hadn’t failed to take into account that Begum had been groomed and trafficked, which would have put it in breach of the UK’s anti-slavery protections, and was the contention of her appeal.
It’s hard to conceive of what grooming and trafficking mean, if not what happened to Begum, painstakingly documented by Josh Baker in his podcast documentary last year, Shamima Begum – Return from Isis. She left the UK aged 15, and her lawyers highlighted numerous failings of the state – Begum’s school, the Met police, Tower Hamlets council – that even allowed her to get as far as Turkey. Her entry into Syria was reportedly partly facilitated by an informant for Canadian intelligence, so the state failings go beyond even our own.
The judges were careful to stress that the ruling didn’t represent any comment on the sympathy or otherwise it was reasonable to have for Begum – rather, that there was nothing unlawful in Sajid Javid’s deprivation decision.
Um, that's how an appeal works? It doesn't re-litigate the entire trial; instead, it focuses on whether there were any problems with the system: did the lawyer sleep through the trial? was the law mis-applied? was the defendant coerced into a confession? etc.
Well, yes. Similarly, how inmates lose rights other people enjoy. It'd not a shock that her citizenship has been removed. She joined a terrorist organization. Their country rightfully doesn't want to take care of a terrorist / have her in their community.
At 15.
It's pretty damning of the UK. Punishing a victim of grooming by stripping their citizenship.
Just because the tabloids got hold of the story and told a caricature story to sell papers.
The issue is that this punishment establishes two classes of people. Those who can lose their citizenship because they can theoretically get another somewhere and those who cant.
Imagine if this child was born in the UK to British parents and has no other possible nationalities, what then?
When a country grants citizenship they should not be allowed to revoke it unless it was obtained fraudulently. Revoking citizenship should never be used as a form of punishment.
But if you are legally not even old enough to agree to a contract for your mobile phone, how can you be old and wise enough to join a terrorist organisation at the same time?
Look what this person did is stupid beyond any comprehension, but I cannot get over the fact that they where 15 years old.
Lured by some bullshit story and promises of eternal Bliss in the caliphate, only to end up in a hellscape of rape, torture, mysogeny, slavery and war.
I cannot feel that this is too harsh of a punishment for a stupid teenager that fucked up tremendously.
She was born here. This ruling means that anyone with a foreign-born parent (and anyone who is Jewish) can lawfully be deprived of their citizenship even if it means making them stateless. If that doesn't trouble you, it's because you haven't thought it through.
I have thought it trough plenty. This law has been in its current form for 40 years. The ability to remove a citizenship on security grounds was created over 100 years ago. The UN charter on statelessness allows what they are doing.
It doesn't matter that she was born in the UK. Read up what she did while there in Syria. This isn't a tyrannical government stripping a young naive precious girl of citizenship. She was a full blown terrorist. She excused terrorist bombings. She excused the rapes. She is absolutely a security threat to the UK.