ISIS Bride Shamima Begum Given Legal Aid To Fight Citizenship Battle
15 April 2019, 08:38 | Updated: 15 April 2019, 10:34
Reports say that the 19-year-old has been awarded taxpayer money to appeal against Home Secretary Sajid Javid's decision to revoke her citizenship.
ISIS bride Shamima Begum has been granted legal aid to fight for her British citizenship back, according to reports.
The Daily Mail have said that her family have hired lawyer Gareth Peirce, who once represented hate preacher Abu Qatada.
The pregnant teenager was found earlier this year at the al-Hawl refugee camp by Times journalist Anthony Loyd. During media interviews, she begged to be allowed to return to the UK.
Ms Begum, who has Bangladeshi heritage, was stripped of her British citizenship by Home Secretary Sajid Javid, "in order to protect this country." He said at the time.
Reports in the Sunday Telegraph claimed that Begum was part of the Islamic State's "morality police" and also tried to recruit other young women to join the jihadist group.
Sources claimed she was allowed to carry a Kalashnikov rifle and earned a reputation as a strict "enforcer" of Isis's laws, such as women's dress codes.
British-born schoolgirl Ms Begum fled her Bethnal Green home to join ISIS at the age of 15 in 2015. She lived in the Syrian city of Raqqa and married a Dutch jihadi named Yago Riedijk.
A Legal Aid Agency spokesman said last night: ‘We are unable to comment on individual cases. Anybody applying for legal aid in a Special Immigration Appeal Commission case is subject to strict eligibility tests.’
