Who is Shamima Begum? The Controversial Citizenship Case in a Nutshell

Who is Shamima Begum? She is a young British-born girl who fled to join ISIS in Syria at the age of 15. Her appeal to return from Syria, where is reportedly in a dangerous refugee camp, has a triggered a debate in United Kingdom about how to deal with such citizens.

• Begum went to live under ISIS rule for more than three years.
• Begum grew up in east London and was among three schoolgirls who joined the Islamic State group in 2015.
• Shamima Begum wants to return to the United Kingdom to challenge removal of her British citizenship.
• The British Supreme Court will announce next week whether Shamima Begum she should be allowed back.
• Begum is now 21, and she is challenging the British Home Office’s decision to remove her citizenship. She is keen to return to U.K. to make her appeal.

Who is Shamima Begum? She is a young British-born girl who fled to join ISIS in Syria at the age of 15.

• As per reports in British media, Begum is believed to be  in al-Roj camp in northern Syria. Her lawyers say the conditions there were dire.
• Begum's lawyers also said the case against Begum was “no more than that she travelled to Syria and ‘aligned with’” ISIS, and that “it is not alleged that she fought, trained or participated in any terrorist activities, nor that she had any role” within ISIS.
• As per BBC, Begum was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019. The baby later died of pneumonia.
• Begum was born in England to parents of Bangladeshi heritage.
• Ten days after arriving in Syria, Shamima Begum married Dutch-born Yago Riedijk, who had converted to Islam and arrived in Syria. She was a minor at the time.