ISIS bride Shamima Begum is barred from returning to the UK to regain her British citizenship, the Supreme Court has ruled.
She fled to Syria when she was just 15, but later begged to return home to the UK to give birth to her third child – who later died.
How many children did Shamima Begum have?
Shamima Begum has given birth to three children.
Begum, who was born to Bangladeshi parents, left London in 2015 when she was 15 and went to Syria via Turkey with two schoolfriends.
In Syria, she married an Islamic State fighter, Dutch-born Yago Riedijk, and lived in Raqqa, the capital of the self-declared caliphate, where she remained for four years until she was discovered in a detention camp.
Her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found, nine months' pregnant.
She has had three children since leaving Britain, but all of her infants have since died.
Begum's fight to return to the UK from the camp was on February 26, 2021, rejected in court.
Now aged 21, she has been challenging the Home Office's decision to remove her British citizenship and wants to be allowed to return to the UK to pursue her appeal.
But she cannot return to the UK, the Supreme Court – the UK's highest court – has ruled.
Announcing the decision, Lord Reed said: "The Supreme Court unanimously allows all of the Home Secretary's appeals and dismisses Ms Begum's cross-appeal.
How did her babies die?
Begum's newborn son died in March 2019, in a Syrian refugee camp, an official said.
The baby, who was less than three weeks old, died of pneumonia, according to a medical certificate.
She had previously told reporters that she lost two other children to malnutrition and disease.
In 2019 Begum said that she now "hated" the terror group after the death of her three babies and that her mental health was suffering.
"For the first eight months [in the caliphate] I was waiting at home for my husband who was in prison suspected of spying," she told the Daily Mail.
"After that I was constantly making babies.
"I did not even speak Arabic."
She added that she would rather be in a British jail so she could access education and psychiatric help.
“Mentally I am in a really bad way. I need therapy to deal with my grief. It is so hard. I have lost all my children,” she said.
What did Shamima say about the death of her son Jarrah?
A paramedic working for the Kurdish Red Crescent in Syrian camp told the BBC in 2019 that her third baby, named Jarrah, had been suffering from breathing difficulties.
Begum’s family had said the boy appeared to be in good health when he was born on February 17, reported the Associated Press.
A doctor organised him to be transferred to hospital, but he died later that day.
The death was confirmed by her family lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee.
Begum returned to the camp from hospital, and her child was buried there.
She had previously told Sky News: "It's a boy. I named him after my old son [who died] – that's what my husband wanted."
And she had told The Times: "I'm scared this baby is going to get sick in this camp.
"That's why I really want to get back to Britain. Because I know it will be taken care of, health wise at least."
Her predicament sparked a national debate on how the UK should handle Britons who had joined the extremists but are now seeking to return because ISIS lost its territory in Syria and Iraq.
Then Home Secretary Sajid Javid was criticised after the baby's death.
Javid revoked her passport, saying Begum hadn’t shown any remorse.
The then 19-year-old had told newspaper reporters she didn’t have a problem with ISIS actions, including the beheading of captives.
Source: Read Full Article
