Court of Appeal to rule on Shamima Begum citizenship

Begum is one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria in 2015 to support Islamic State.

She was 15 years old when she left.

She left with her friends Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. Kadiza is thought to have died when a house was blown up, and the fate of Amira is unknown.

Begum was born in the UK to parents of Bangladeshi heritage but does not have Bangladeshi citizenship.

Her British citizenship was stripped on national security grounds in 2019 when she was 19 years old, after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp. The baby later died of pneumonia.

She has since appealed the decision and says she wants to come back to Britain.

Begum lived under IS rule for more than three years. She married a Dutch member of IS, who is currently held in a Kurdish detention centre, and lived in Raqqa, once a stronghold of the so-called caliphate. She had three children, all of whom have all died.

Begum has admitted that she joined IS knowing it was a terror group. She has also said that she was “ashamed” to have joined the group and regrets it.