ECHR Questions UK on Begum Citizenship Revocation

The European Court of Human Rights has formally questioned the UK government over its 2019 decision to revoke Shamima Begum's British citizenship, focusing on whether officials adequately considered her potential status as a victim of child trafficking before acting on national security grounds.

Begum, now 26 and originally from Bethnal Green in east London, traveled to Syria in February 2015 at the age of 15, along with two school friends, to join territory controlled by the Islamic State group. Within days of arriving, she was married to Yago Riedijk, a Dutch national and convicted ISIS fighter. She gave birth to three children during her time there, all of whom died in infancy. Following the collapse of ISIS's so-called caliphate in 2019, Begum was located in a refugee camp in northern Syria, where she remains today in the al-Roj facility in Hasakah province, held by Kurdish-led forces. She holds no citizenship and has been unable to return to the UK.

In February 2019, then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her British citizenship, citing it as conducive to the public good due to the national security threat she posed. The decision was based in part on her...