The case of Shamima Begum, a British resident who ran away in 2015 to become an Islamic State (IS) jihadi bride and is now fighting to return to the UK from Syria, will go to the Supreme Court, it was reported.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal decided that the case raised a point of law of public importance that only the Supreme Court can resolve, reports the BBC.
The court also revealed that the Sun newspaper will be referred to the Attorney General after it obtained a copy of the Court of Appeal’s draft judgement – or its “essential contents” – in advance of it being handed down on July 16.
Judge Eleanor Warwick King, the head of the panel of three judges, said they were referring the newspaper to the Attorney General because of a potential contempt of court in publishing a story about the judgement, seemingly leaked from government, before it was announced in court.
This development comes after the three Court of Appeal judges last month ruled that Begum should be allowed back to London to fight for the return of her citizenship, said the BBC reported.
But the government said that decision was deeply flawed.
In 2015, Begum, then aged 15, was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families to join the IS.
Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Amira Abase, then 15, and Begum boarded a flight from Gatwick Airport to Istanbul, Turkey, on February 17, 2015, before making their way to Raqqa in Syria.
Sultana was reportedly killed in an air strike in 2016, while Abase’s current whereabouts remain unknown.
After Begum was found in a refugee camp in 2019, her British citizenship was revoked by former Home Secretary Sajid Javid on security grounds.
