Shamima Begum – who left home in east London at the age of 15 to join Islamic State in Syria – will find out today if she is allowed back to the UK.
Back in 2015, Begum was pictured leaving Bethnal Green with two other girls to make the journey to Turkey and then onto Syria, where she joined the caliphate.
Her British citizenship was revoked in 2019 by then home secretary Sajid Javid, with the Home Office saying last year it stood by its decision.
Sir James Eadie KC told the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC): “You can be trafficked in the most ghastly, unacceptable way, exposed in the most unacceptable way, desensitised in the most unacceptable way and yet, unfortunately … still be a security threat.
The SIAC will hand down its written judgment over whether she should win back her British citizenship and return to the UK after a lengthy period gathering evidence and testimony from the government and Begum’s family.
But how did Shamima Begum get to this point, and why is her potential return to the UK proving so controversial?
2015
Begum dropped out of school at the Bethnal Green Academy with friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, and on 17 February, travelled from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul in Turkey.
It is thought they were radicalised by someone called Aqsa Mahmood, reported to be the first woman to flee the UK to join Islamic State in Syria two years earlier.
It is said the girls stole family jewellery to pay for their flights.
Once in Syria, Begum married a Dutch fighter for Islamic State, Yago Riedijk, and had three children with him – all of whom later died.
Begum was said to be an “enforcer” who recruited other women to the caliphate.
The Bethnal Green Trio: Kadiza Sultana, Shamima Begum, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport
2016
It was reported both Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana were both said to be dead.
Sultana had married an IS fighter with Somalian heritage and was said to have been killed in a Russian attack. Her family told ITV at the time they believed she’d been planning an escape.
Abase was married to an Australian IS fighter and was reportedly killed in coalition strikes – but this has never been confirmed.
2019
The whereabouts or actions of Begum fall quiet between 2016 and 2019, and it was not until a journalist from The Times finds her at a displacement camp that she is seen or heard from.
Begum had fled the village of Baghuz, where there was fierce fighting taking place in a last stand for Islamic State.
When Sky News interviewed her, she had just given birth, and was said to be “unrepentant” about joining IS, but did want to return to the UK.
In February, Sajid Javid, who was the then home secretary, stripped Begum of her British citizenship – though this decision was controversial, as it meant it could have potentially left her stateless, which is in contravention to the United Nations.
It is understood that she also holds Bangladeshi citizenship through her father, but the country made it clear if she went there, she would face the death penalty.
By April, Begum was granted legal aid by the Ministry of Justice to appeal the decision.
Shamima Begum being interviewed by Sky News in 2019
2020
Begum is given permission by the Court of Appeal to return to the UK and contest the government’s decision to rescind her British citizenship – but it was not clear at the time how she would do this.
2021
In November, Sky News met with Begum again, where she said she did not hate the UK when she left, only her own life, and reaffirmed her keenness to come back to the UK. She also described living under IS rule as “hell, hell on Earth”, and that she had no part in any of the atrocities carried out by the terrorist group.
Days later, the Supreme Court blocked Begum’s appeal to return home after the government argued that she “would create significant national security risks” and expose the public to “an increased risk of terrorism”.
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November 2021: ‘I didn’t hate Britain, I hated my life’ – Begum
2022
Begum attempts again to win the right to travel back to the UK in a five-day trial with the SIAC.
The Home Office, once again, stood by its decision to bar her from entering the UK, while her parents argued that stopping her from coming home contravenes their right to a family life.
