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Shamima Begum: Family to challenge decision to revoke citizenship

Shamima Begum: Family to challenge decision to revoke citizenship

The family of Shamima Begum, who left the UK to join the Islamic State group in Syria, have written to the home secretary, informing him that they are going to challenge his decision to revoke her UK citizenship.

As reported by the BBC, the letter, written by her sister Renu Begum on behalf of the family, says:

"We wish to make clear, that along with the rest of the country, we are shocked and appalled at the vile comments she has made to the media in recent days.

"These are not representative of British values, and my family entirely reject the comments she has made.

"That year (2015) we lost Shamima to a murderous and misogynistic cult.

"My sister has been in their thrall now for four years, and it is clear to me that her exploitation at their hands has fundamentally damaged her."

"We have a duty to her, and a duty to hope that as she was groomed into what she has become, she can equally be helped back into the sister I knew, and daughter my parents bore.

"We hope you understand our position in this respect and why we must, therefore, assist Shamima in challenging your decision to take away the one thing that is her only hope at rehabilitation, her British citizenship."

Shamima Begum was part of a trio of girls from Bethnal Green Academy to travel to the war-torn nation to support the terror group in February 2015.

At the time, chief of counter-terror policing Sir Mark Rowley suggested that she might be treated as a victim of grooming.

However, speaking on Tuesday, Cressida Dick said: ""I've read very carefully what the Assistant Commissioner and the Commissioner said, it was very carefully caveated on the basis of what was known then. We're a long way down the road since then.

"If there is insufficient evidence for a prosecution it is our job to look at the threat they pose if they are returning from Syria and we do that with every single person who comes back from Syria and then manage the risk with colleagues in the (security and intelligence) agencies."

Making the case for her return, Mike Yeomans, a researcher on violent extremism and terrorism, focussing on jihadism and the Middle East, writes on Conservativehome website:

"Shamima Begum should be allowed return to the UK. Ignoring legal arguments (which under the principle of “right of return” entitles her to come back), it is in the UK’s security interests to let her to do so.

"Criminal though she is, she is by any definition a victim of the most appalling child sexual exploitation."

Image: BBC

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