LONDON: A woman stripped of her British citizenship after leaving the country as a teenager to marry an Islamic State militant group’s fighter lost her appeal against the decision on Friday.

London’s Court of Appeal rejected all five arguments presented by Shamima Begum, 24, although she can still take the case to the supreme court.

“It could be argued that the decision in Miss Begum’s case was harsh, it could also be argued that Miss Begum is the author of her own misfortune,” said judge Sue Carr as she delivered the decision.

“But it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view, our only task is to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful. We have concluded it was not and the appeal is dismissed,” she added.

Shamima Begum, whose family is of Bangladeshi origin, was 15 years old when she left her east London home for Syria with two school friends in 2015. While there, she married an IS fighter and had three children, none of whom survived.

She took her case against the revocation of her citizenship to the appeal court in October last year.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2024