February 22, 2019

Let Shamima Begum back into the U.K. to face the consequences

located:	United Kingdom, Syria
editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Shamima Begum is one of three British girls who left the U.K.. to join ISIL in Syria back in 2015. She and her friends were 15 years old at the time. After marrying in Syria and remaining with the group for some time, she recently gave birth to her third child in a Syrian refugee camp. She had lost her other children to malnutrition and lack of medical aid. Now, desperate to return to the U.K., she has been stripped of her citizenship and told she cannot return by British Home Secretary Sajid Javid. 

The knee-jerk reaction to this story has been one of widespread celebration — the ruling Conservative party appeared united in stripping Begum of her citizenship, and the right-wing press lauded the move. The move also cemented Javid's credentials in the eyes of the right-wing media as someone who is willing to put the country before other loyalties.

Javid, the son of Pakistani immigrants, is often challenged in a subtle way about his loyalty to Britain. By punishing the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, he had made sure no one questions whether Islam or the 'mother-country' comes before the Queen and country. Many British citizens have united in condemning Begum, claiming the Home Secretary was right to strip her of her citizenship. 

While Begum's family plead for her baby to be readmitted to the country (her baby is also currently not allowed into the U.K.), there has been an institutional argument in favour of letting her return. This is because Javid's stripping of her citizenship has been extra-judicial, and sets a dangerous precedent, especially during times of increased hostility to outsiders. Instead, Begum should have been allowed to return to the U.K., citizenship intact, to face the consequences of her actions in front of a court. 

The stripping of Begum's citizenship shows just how little faith there is in U.K. law, even at the highest reaches of government. Perhaps the government felt it could not clearly and easily prosecute Begum upon her return (she may have committed treason, but the British law on this is centuries old and hardly ever used). Perhaps they felt that EU-law and protections of human rights would simply get in the way of prosecuting her. Instead the Home Office and the U.K. government decided to cut the Gordian knot, leaving 19-year-old Begum in limbo. 

Begum was clearly wrong to join ISIL, an organisation championing social media recruitment and propaganda. It is a gang of fanatics with tremendous military capacity. She is also clearly uneasy with stating that terrorist attacks on the U.K. committed by ISIL-sympathisers were wrong. While she demonstrates an internal logic, saying that "the U.K. committed attacks abroad, so it is only retaliatory", justification of joining ISIL is still difficult to swallow. If the U.K. believed in its own institutions of justice, it would allow her back in to face justice, whatever form that might take.

That's why Begum should be allowed to return home: to face tough questions from the U.K., and be allowed to have the chance to see what she did was wrong. 

IN THE NEWS

The Guardian: Letters: Shamima Begum has a right to redemption

Met police kept families of Isis schoolgirls ‘in the dark’

Daily Mail: 'She doesn't deserve to come back to Britain':Shamima Begum's father says he is on ministers' side - as it's revealed how 150 other British women who joined ISIS remain at large

INDEPENDENT: Shamima Begum's father says he 'doesn't have a problem' with daughter's British citizenship being removed

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