Shamima Begum loses first bid to challenge citizenship removal at Supreme Court

The decision to deprive Shamima Begum of her British citizenship was unlawful, the Court of Appeal has heard. Shamima travelled to Syria in 2015 – at the age of 15 – before her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019. Earlier this year, the now-24-year-old lost a challenge against the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). Issue date: Tuesday October 24, 2023.

Shamima Begum has lost her initial bid to challenge the removal of her British citizenship at the Supreme Court.

Last year, Ms Begum lost her first appeal against the decision to revoke her citizenship on national security grounds at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp following her travel to the country as a 15-year-old in 2015.

Earlier this year, three judges at the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed her bid to overturn the SIAC decision.

Shamima Begum legal case — Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr during a live broadcast at the Court of Appeal (PA)

On Monday, a judicial spokesperson confirmed that Ms Begum had asked the Court of Appeal for the green light to take her case to the Supreme Court, but had been refused.

Ms Begum may now ask the Supreme Court directly for permission to have her case heard by the UK’s highest court.

Dismissing her Court of Appeal challenge in February, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, said: “It could be argued the decision in Ms Begum’s case was harsh.

“It could also be argued that Ms Begum is the author of her own misfortune, but it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view.

“The only task of the court was to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful.

“Since it was not, Ms Begum’s appeal is dismissed.”

Following this decision, Ms Begum’s solicitor Daniel Furner said: “I want to say that I’m sorry to Shamima and to her family that after five years of fighting she still hasn’t received justice in a British court, and to promise her and promise the Government that we are not going to stop fighting until she does get justice and until she is safely back home.”