Four more ISIS brides fight in court to return to UK like Shamima Begum after they were stripped of British passports
AT least four other ISIS brides are following in the footsteps of Shamima Begum and challenging the government’s decision to strip them of their British citizenship.
Supreme Court judges are due to determine Begum’s future tomorrow when they rule whether or not the 21-year-old can return to the UK to appeal for her citizenship to be reinstated.
Shamima Begum left her home in Bethnal Green, East London when she was a 15-year-old school girl and made her way to Syria in 2015.
She went on to marry Dutch jihadi fighter Yago Riedijk and had three kids who all later died.
The then Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds.
When she learned of the decision she called it “unjust” and “heartbreaking”.
The women have been granted anonymity to maintain their human rights and the risk of revenge attacks which could follow should they be allowed to return to the UK.
It’s believed the women who want their passports reinstated are claiming they were trafficked to Syria by their ISIS-supporting husbands.
With Begum’s case the Home Office argued it had not made her stateless because she was eligible for a Bangladeshi passport because of her parentage.
Bangladesh’s foreign minister Abdul Momen had said Begum could be hanged for her support of terrorism if she went to the country.
He also added the country “had nothing to do with” Begum, despite Britain saying she had Bangladeshi citizenship.
Earlier this year 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”.
The judges ruled that “fairness and justice must, on the facts of this case, outweigh the national security concerns, so that the leave to enter appeals should be allowed.”
The court also said “the national security concerns about her could be addressed and managed if she returns to the United Kingdom”.
The government is appealing the decision, saying her return to the UK would bring an “increased risk of terrorism” to the country.
Due to the legal wrangling Begum’s return to the UK has been put on hold until the Supreme Court decides on Monday.
Earlier this month Riedijk, 28, told his wife to "stay strong" and vowed to live with her again.
In footage obtained by The Sun, when filmmaker Alan Duncan asked him what message he’d send to his wife, he said: “Stay strong, even though it’s very difficult all the things we’ve been through.
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“I’d tell her to make use of your time, do whatever you can and learn whatever you can in order to build a future for yourself… for us.
“In terms of taking care of future children, in terms of being a future housewife.”