LONDON: A British-born woman, who went to Syria as a schoolgirl to join the militant Islamic State (IS) group, lost her appeal against the removal of her British citizenship, but her lawyers vowed to keep fighting and said the case was “nowhere near over”.

The British government took away citizenship of Shamima Begum, aka IS-bride, on national security grounds in 2019.

Her appeal against that decision was dismissed on Wednesday by the Special Immigration Appeals Com­­mission, a specialist tribunal that hears appeals against decisions to remove citizenship on national security grounds, on Wednesday.

Speaking outside court, her lawyer Daniel Furner told reporters: “We will be challenging the decision”. A spokesperson for Brit­ain’s interior ministry welcomed the ruling, saying: “The government’s priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK and we will robustly defend any decision made in doing so.”

Currently being held in the al-Roj detention camp in Syria, Shamima argued the UK Home Office failed to investigate whether she was a “child victim of trafficking”.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2023