LONDON: Lawyers for a woman who was stripped of her British citizenship after traveling to join the Daesh group in Syria challenged the decision on Monday, arguing she was a victim of child trafficking.
Shamima Begum is one of hundreds of Europeans whose fate following the 2019 collapse of the extremists’ self-styled caliphate has proved a thorny issue for 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.
Dubbed a “Daesh bride,” she was stripped of her British citizenship, leaving her stranded and stateless in Syria’s Kurdish-run Roj camp.
Monday’s hearing at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) follows a Supreme Court decision last year to refuse her permission to enter the UK to fight her citizenship case against the Home Office, or interior ministry.
Begum’s lawyer, Samantha Knights, told the court that “at its heart this case concerns a British child aged 15 who was... influenced... with her friends... by a determined and effective Daesh propaganda machine.”
There was “overwhelming” evidence she had been “recruited, transported, transferred, harbored and received in Syria for the purposes of ‘sexual exploitation’ and ‘marriage’ to an adult male.”
But she said the process by which the Home Office took the decision to remove Begum’s citizenship was “extraordinary” and “over hasty” and failed to investigate and determine whether she was “a child victim of trafficking.”
A book published earlier this year by journalist Richard Kerbaj alleged that Begum, now 23, and her friends were taken into Syria by a Syrian man who was leaking information to the Canadian security services.
Mohammed Al-Rashed is alleged to have been in charge of the Turkish side of an extensive Daesh people smuggling network.
“It is now fairly well settled that she and her friends were transported across borders... by a Canadian asset of the Canadian security forces,” Begum’s lawyer Tasnime Akunjee told AFP before the hearing.
“The very definition of trafficking is pretty well established by that,” he added.
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 realized the extremist group was “trapping people” to boost the caliphate’s numbers and “look good for the (propaganda) videos.”
Some 900 people are estimated to have traveled from Britain to Syria and Iraq to join Daesh. Of those, around 150 are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship.
Human rights group Reprieve told AFP there were currently 20-25 British families, including 36 children, still in camps in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria, where suspected relatives of Daesh fighters have been held.
Other European nations have also been grappling with how to handle the return of their own nationals.
Some countries, such as Germany and Belgium, have tried to carry out regular repatriation operations.
Last month, Berlin said it had settled “almost all known cases” of German families in extremist prison camps in Syria, claiming to have repatriated 76 minors as well as 26 women.
According to Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office, in mid-2022 there remained “a few women and a few children” in the Syrian camps.
Faced with hostile public opinion, however, France had carried out repatriations on a case-by-case basis.
But it picked up the pace in recent months after criticism from the European Court of Human Rights.
Since July, Paris has repatriated 31 women and 75 children in two operations.
Some 175 French children and 69 women are believed to still be in the camps.
UK court told ‘Daesh bride’ was child trafficking victim
https://arab.news/5a9zv
UK court told ‘Daesh bride’ was child trafficking victim
- Dubbed a “Daesh bride,” she was stripped of her British citizenship, leaving her stranded and stateless in Syria’s Kurdish-run Roj camp
- A book published earlier this year alleged that Begum was taken into Syria by a Syrian man who was leaking information to the Canadian security services
Pakistani fighter jet crashes in Jalalabad, pilot captured: Afghan military, police
- Fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban military entered its third day on Saturday
- Pakistan’s strikes on Friday hit Taliban military installations and posts, including in Kabul and Kandahar
JALALABAD: A Pakistani jet has crashed in Jalalabad city and the pilot captured alive, the Afghan military and police said Saturday, with residents telling AFP the man parachuted from the plane before being detained.
"A Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in the sixth district of Jalalabad city, and its pilot was captured alive," police spokesman Tayeb Hammad said.
Wahidullah Mohammadi, spokesman for the military in eastern Afghanistan, confirmed the Pakistani jet was downed by Afghan forces "and the pilot was captured alive".
The AFP journalist heard a jet overhead before blasts from the direction of the airport in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, which sits on the road between Kabul and the Pakistani border.
Fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban military entered its third day on Saturday, following overnight clashes as the international community expressed increasing concern about the conflict and called for urgent talks.
Pakistan’s strikes on Friday hit Taliban military installations and posts, including in Kabul and Kandahar, in one of the deepest Pakistani incursions into its western neighbor in years, officials said.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who it claims are waging an insurgency inside Pakistan, a charge the Taliban denies.
Pakistan described its actions as a response to cross-border assaults, while Kabul denounced them as a breach of its sovereignty, saying it remained open to dialogue but warned any wider conflict would result in serious consequences.
The fighting has raised the risk of a protracted conflict along the rugged 2,600-kilometer frontier.
Diplomatic efforts gathered pace late on Friday as Afghanistan said its foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, spoke by telephone with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan about reducing tensions and keeping diplomatic channels open.
The European Union called for both sides to de-escalate and engage in dialogue, while the United Nations urged an immediate end to hostilities.
Russia urged both sides to halt the clashes and return to talks, while China said it was deeply concerned and ready to help ease tensions.
The United States supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against attacks by the Taliban, a State Department spokesperson said.
Border fighting continues
Exchanges of fire continued along the border overnight.
Pakistani security sources said an operation dubbed “Ghazab Lil Haq” was ongoing and that Pakistani forces had destroyed multiple Taliban posts and camps in several sectors. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.
Both sides have reported heavy losses with conflicting tolls that Reuters could not verify. Pakistan said 12 of its soldiers and 274 Taliban were killed while the Taliban said 13 of its fighters and 55 Pakistani soldiers died.
Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said 19 civilians were killed and 26 wounded in Khost and Paktika. Reuters could not verify the claim.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said “our cup of patience has overflowed” and described the fighting as “open war,” warning that Pakistan would respond to further attacks.
Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said in a speech in Khost province that the conflict “will be very costly,” and that Afghan forces had not deployed broadly beyond those already engaged.
He said the Taliban had defeated “the world, not through technology, but through unity and solidarity,” and through “great patience and perseverance,” rather than superior military power.
Pakistan’s military capabilities far exceed those of Afghanistan, with a standing army of hundreds of thousands and a modern air force.
In stark contrast, the Taliban lacks a conventional air force and relies largely on light weaponry and ground forces.
However, the Islamist group is battle-hardened after two decades of insurgency against US-led forces before returning to power in 2021.
