London court to hear Shamima Begum's appeal to win back UK citizenship

The case of Shamima Begum, who lost her British citizenship after joining Daesh in Syria, will be reviewed by a London court. 

Begum is essentially challenging the UK Home Office decision, which stripped her of British passport on the grounds of her alleged involvement with the dreaded terror outfit. 

Her lawyers have been arguing that Begum was a "victim of trafficking", who as a 15-year-old impressionable teenager, was brainwashed to flee the UK and enter Syria in 2015 when Daesh ruled large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territories. 

Begum's family lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, told AFP the hearing would be centred around whether she was "considered a victim of trafficking -notably whether the then home secretary Sajid Javid turned his mind to those issues when making the decision to strip her of citizenship".

Begum was one of hundreds of Europeans whose fate following the 2019 collapse of Daesh has proved a thorny issue for various Western governments.

Begum, then 15, left her home in east London in 2015 with two school friends to travel to Syria, where she married a Daesh fighter and had three children, none of whom survived.

She was later "found" by British journalists, heavily pregnant in a Syrian camp in February 2019 -and her apparent lack of remorse in initial interviews drew outrage.

She was left stranded and stateless in a detention camp in Syria controlled by PKK/YPG terror group as the UK stripped her of citizenship. 

The recent book claims trafficking

A book published earlier this year by journalist Richard Kerbaj alleged that Begum and her friends were taken into Syria by a Syrian man who was leaking information to the Canadian security services.

"It is now fairly well settled that she and her friends were transported across borders... by a Canadian asset of the Canadian security forces," Akunjee said.

READ MORE: Why urgent probe into UK’s cover-up on Shamima Begum is required

Begum's case will affect other Britons like her

Despite her initial comments, Begum has since expressed remorse for her actions and sympathy for Daesh victims.

In a documentary last year, she said that on arrival in Syria she quickly realised Daesh were "trapping people" to boost the so-called caliphate's numbers and "look good for the (propaganda) videos".

900 people are estimated to have travelled from Britain to Syria and Iraq to join the Daesh terrorist group, 150 of whose are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship.

Other European nations have also been grappling with how to handle the return of their own nationals.