Allowing ISIS bride Shamima Begum back into UK would be 'an affront to justice' that would be 'real and serious' threat to national security, Supreme Court hears
ISIS bride Shamima Begum's Supreme Court hearing has been told allowing her to return to the UK to appeal would be an 'affront to justice'.
The 21-year-old's case is being considered after her British Citizenship was revoked by the then Home Secretary Savid Javid.
It is deciding whether Begum, currently in the Al Hawl refugee camp in Syria, should be allowed to return to the UK to appeal against the deprivation of that citizenship.
Earlier today it the hearing was told she posed 'a clear and serious threat' to national security.
Government lawyer Sir James Eadie QC said: 'There is no basis for concluding that the risks that she poses can be managed in a satisfactory way
'National security is seriously put at risk. Allowing the substantive appeal would represent not an application of justice but an affront to justice.'
She was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join the extremists in December 2014.
She lived under IS rule for more than three years before she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year.
At the start of today's hearing Government lawyer Sir Eadie QC spoke about what could happen if ISIS members returned to the UK, using an MI5 threat assessment report.
He said: 'The fact is the threat is real and serious, despite the age of the individual when they travelled.
'The assessment is that those who have travelled to align and have aligned pose a clear and serious threat specifically on return.
'The exposure of the public to an increased risk of terrorism is not justifiable or appropriate in this case on fairness grounds.'
He then referenced Begum's interview with a newspaper back in 2019 and how she said she did not regret going to Syria.
Sir Eadie added: 'Serious concerns about threats on return underpin the deprivation of citizenship.
'The aim of that measure includes especially making it very difficult for them to return, on the basis of if they do so they pose the sorts of risks you have seen
'The responsibility of the state is to protect its citizens from the threat of terrorism as best they can.'
'She married an IS fighter, lived in Raqqa - the capital of the self-declared caliphate - and remained with them for about four years until 2019, when she left from, in effect, the last pocket of IS territory in Baghuz.'
In written submissions, Sir James said: 'This case raises questions as to the balance to be struck between degrees of protection of procedural rights and degrees of protection of the public from terrorism.
'Can it be right that a person who has involved themself in terrorism, and is now abroad and subject to restrictions that affect their ability to participate in domestic proceedings, is able to rely on those self-created impediments to insist on return to the jurisdiction to enable them to participate now in such proceedings?
'Can it be right that they should be able to do so if enabling them to do so runs directly contrary to the most effective protection of the public from the risks of harm through terrorism?'

British Jihadi wife Shamima Begum pictured with her son Jerah (now deceased) in Al Hawl

Begum (seen right) was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy to travel to Syria
Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who went to join ISIS, shortly after Sharmeena Begum, who is no relation, travelled to Syria in December 2014.
Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, joined Begum on a flight from London to Istanbul before making their way to Syria.
Mr Javid revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds after she was found in the camp.
But in July, the Court of Appeal ruled 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'.

Begum was one of three girls from Bethnal Green Academy who joined ISIS back in 2014

The girls flew to Istanbul from Gatwick then helped by ISIS traffickers through Turkey to Syria
Later that month, the Court of Appeal gave permission for both the Home Office and Ms Begum to take their case to the UK's highest court, and ordered a 'stay' on Ms Begum's return 'until further order by the Supreme Court'.
At a remote two-day hearing which started this morning, the Supreme Court will consider whether Ms Begum should be allowed to return to the UK to appeal against the deprivation of her British citizenship.
Five Supreme Court justices, led by the court's president Lord Reed, will also consider whether Ms Begum's appeal should be allowed if she is refused leave to enter the UK.
Also today, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) will hear the cases of three individuals with British-Bangladeshi heritage whose British citizenship has been revoked on the grounds of national security.
SIAC - a specialist tribunal which hears challenges to decisions to remove someone's British citizenship on national security grounds - will hear appeals by two women, known only as C3 and C4, who also allegedly travelled to Syria from the UK to join IS.
At the same time, the tribunal will hear an appeal brought by a man referred to only as C7, whose British citizenship was revoked earlier this year after he too allegedly travelled to Syria to join to IS.
All three claim the decision to remove their British citizenship rendered them stateless and was therefore unlawful, which is denied by the Home Office.
In Ms Begum's case, SIAC originally ruled that she 'cannot play any meaningful part in her appeal and that, to that extent, the appeal will not be fair and effective', but said 'it does not follow that her appeal succeeds'.
However, earlier this year, the Court of Appeal said: 'It is difficult to conceive of any case where a court or tribunal has said we cannot hold a fair trial, but we are going to go on anyway.'
Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join IS, shortly after Sharmeena Begum, who is no relation, travelled to Syria in December 2014.
Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, then 16 and 15 respectively, and Ms Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.
Ms Begum claims she married Dutch convert Yago Riedijk 10 days after arriving in IS territory, with all three of her school friends also reportedly marrying foreign IS fighters.
She told The Times last February that she left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a one-year-old girl and a three-month-old boy, had both since died.
Her third child died shortly after he was born.
The case continues.
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