Thu 16 July 2020:
A woman who had the citizenship of the United Kingdom revoked after she travelled to Syria to join the ISIL (ISIS) group should be allowed to return home to challenge the decision, a court has ruled.
Shamima Begum has won the right to contest the UK government’s decision to repeal her citizenship in person on Thursday, after the Court of Appeal said she has been denied a fair hearing on the matter.
Begum, now 20, was one of three British schoolgirls who travelled together to Islamic State group-controlled territory in 2015.
“I have reached the firm conclusion that given that the only way in which she can have a fair and effective appeal is to be permitted to come into the United Kingdom to pursue her appeal, fairness and justice must, on the facts of this case, outweigh the national security concerns,” one of the three judges on the case, Lord Justice Flaux, said.
The ruling in her favour means she could appear before the court in London despite UK authorities continuously declaring they would not help her return from Syria.
But the government said they would appeal this decision, and called the decision of the court “disappointing”.
NEWS AGENCY
