‘IS bride’ was a victim of child trafficking, defense lawyers

Shamima Begum’s lawyers on Monday challenged the British government’s decision to strip the British citizen of her citizenship for traveling to Syria to join the Islamic State.

Defense lawyers have argued that Shamima Begum was a victim of “child trafficking” by Islamic State extremists. Shamima Begum is one of hundreds of Europeans who have become a major problem for Western governments since the fall of the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Daesh extremists in 2019.

In 2015, Shamima Begum was 15 years old and lived in East London. She then moved with two of her friends, 16-year-old Khadija Sultana and 15-year-old Amira Abbas, to Syria, where she married an IS fighter. She gave birth to three children, but none of them survived. In February 2019, British journalists found Shamima Begum pregnant in a Syrian camp.

The girl did not express any particular remorse about her situation in her initial interview. This caused great outrage in his country of Great Britain. Her story was picked up by the British media and she became known as the ‘IS bride’. At the same time, his British citizenship was also taken away. Shamima Begum was left stateless and helpless in the Syrian Kurdish-run Roj camp along with ISIS fighters.

Shamima Begum’s lawyer, Samantha Knights, strongly advocated for Shamima’s case, saying that the process by which the UK Home Office decided to revoke Begum’s citizenship was “extraordinary and hasty”. Samantha Knights says authorities have failed to investigate and determine the circumstances under which Shamima arrived in Syria and that she was a “trafficked child”.

Shamima’s case will be heard at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) on Monday, November 21, following a Supreme Court ruling last year that allowed her to enter the UK to fight a citizenship case against the Home Office or the Home Office. Permission was denied.

Shamima Begum’s lawyer gave a statement in the court and said, “Actually, this case is the case of a 15-year-old British girl, who along with her friends was targeted by the determined and effective propaganda machine of IS.” “

Lawyer Samantha Knights added, “There was strong evidence that she was transported, recruited and sheltered in Syria for the purposes of sexual exploitation and marriage to an adult man.”

Earlier this year, journalist Richard Karbaj published a book in which he revealed that Shamima, now 23, was taken to Syria by a Syrian man, Mohammed al-Rashid, along with two of her friends. was Moreover, this person was providing information to Canadian security services. Muhammad al-Rashid is alleged to have been in charge of a branch of a vast ISK trafficking network.

Meanwhile, another lawyer for Shamima Begum, Tasnim Akanje, said in a statement before the court hearing on Monday, “The definition of the term trafficking is absolutely clear.”

Despite her initial comments, Begum has expressed remorse for her actions and sympathy for IS victims. In a documentary last year, he said that upon arriving in Syria, he immediately realized that ISIS was “trapping people” to increase the number of members in the self-proclaimed caliphate, and that’s how he started using his videos (propaganda). Impressively presented.

It is estimated that around 900 people traveled from the UK to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. About 150 of them are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship.

Human rights group Reprieve told AFP that 20 to 25 British families, including 36 children, are still in Kurdish-controlled camps where suspected relatives of IS fighters are being held. has gone It should be noted that other European countries are also looking for a mechanism to settle the return of their citizens from Syria.