Foreign Secretary David Lammy has confirmed that Shamima Begum, a former ISIS supporter, will remain in a Syrian detention camp, dismissing calls for her repatriation despite pressure from
a member of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team, Sebastian Gorka.
Begum, who left the United Kingdom in 2015 as a schoolgirl to join ISIS, was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds. Despite legal attempts to overturn this decision, she remains stateless and barred from returning to the U.K.
The debate resurfaced when Sebastian Gorka, Trump's pick for Senior Director for Counterterrorism, publicly urged the U.K. to bring back British nationals linked to ISIS, saying that nations wishing to maintain strong alliances with the U.S. should demonstrate their commitment by repatriating such individuals. “This applies doubly so for the U.K.,” Gorka told The Times, implying that repatriation is an essential aspect of alliance-building.
When asked about Gorka’s statement, Lammy firmly rejected any possibility of Begum’s return, reiterating that she is no longer a U.K. national and emphasizing the risks associated with detainees in Syrian camps. “We will act in our security interests. Many of those held in these camps are dangerous radicals,” he said during an interview with ITV. He further stated that if any ISIS-affiliated Britons were to return, they would face immediate imprisonment.
Begum, labeled as the “ISIS bride” by British media, was 15 years old when she traveled from London to Syria to join the terrorist group and soon after married an ISIS fighter. Now 25, she continues to live in a Syrian camp after losing multiple legal challenges to regain her citizenship.
In August last year, the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruled against her right to appeal, solidifying the government’s stance. Despite this, Begum’s legal team has expressed plans to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in pursuit of further legal recourse. Photo by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Wikimedia commons.