UK Supreme Court to hear case over 'IS bride' return

A woman who lost her British citizenship after joining the Islamic State in Syria will take her case to the UK's Supreme Court later Monday.

Government lawyers won a legal bid in July to allow the country's highest court to decide whether Shamima Begum, 20, can return home to pursue an appeal over her revoked citizenship.

A majority of judges at the UK's Court of Appeal agreed that she should be allowed home.

But the court later said the final decision must be taken by the Supreme Court.

Who is Shamima Begum?

Begum left home in London with two other schoolgirls to join the jihadist group in February 2015.

She claims she married a Dutch convert soon after arriving in IS-held territory

She was discovered, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year.

Her newborn baby died soon after she gave birth. Two of her other children also died under IS rule.

What is her citizenship status?

Former UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her British citizenship on national security grounds in February 2019.

That prompted her to take legal action. Her lawyers say the decision was unlawful, rendering her stateless and exposing her to the risk of death or inhuman and degrading treatment.

British-born Begum is of Bangladeshi heritage. But Bangladesh's foreign minister has said he will not consider granting her citizenship.

Begum's high-profile flight with her friends from Britain to Syria via Turkey in 2015 was followed by an international search.

Her disappearance focused efforts to prevent disaffected British Muslims from leaving their homes to join IS.

jf/rt (AP, AFP)