Shamima Begum was likely a trafficking victim unlawfully stripped of her citizenship, immigration director tells BBC (22 November 2022)

Shamima Begum was likely to have been a victim of trafficking who was unlawfully stripped her citizenship by the Government, immigration director Tamana Aziz has told BBC London radio.

Tamana outlined the case being put forward on behalf of Shamima in an immigration tribunal, during an interview with the BBC’s Shay Kaur Grewal on November 21.

Shamima, 23, left the UK as a teenager for Syria in 2015 to join the Islamic State group. On 2019, she had her citizenship removed on national security grounds in 2019 by the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid.

Tamana told the BBC that, as Shamima was born in the UK her nationality is her birthright, and stripping her of citizenship is unlawful, in particular in light of Bangladesh not accepting her as a national, hence she becomes “stateless”.

The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant of the Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which noted in Article 12 (Freedom of Movement), “the Committee considers that there are few, if any, circumstances in which deprivation of the right to enter one’s own country could be reasonable. A state party must not, by stripping a person of nationality or by expelling an individual to a third country, arbitrarily prevent this person from returning to his or her own country.”

The secretary of state must also consider whether she had been a child victim of trafficking.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission is hearing a challenge to the removal of her UK citizenship.

Begum’s lawyers said in written arguments that the Home Office had revoked her citizenship “without seeking to investigate and determine, still less consider, whether she was a child victim of trafficking”.

Lawyers representing the Home Office said Begum’s case was about national security rather than trafficking.

Shamima remains in a camp controlled by armed guards in northern Syria.

Tamana Aziz is a highly experienced lawyer who specialises in all matters relating to immigration, particularly in relation to business.

She is a recommended lawyer in the 2022 edition of the Legal 500 directory and has wide-ranging immigration law experience, including business immigration under the Points Based System (PBS), advising high net worth and skilled individuals on extending Tier 2 (General) visas, spousal applications and applications for British citizenship.

For advice on any immigration related issue contact Tamana via email at tamanaa@duncanlewis.com or telephone 020 3114 1130.

Listen to the full interview here BBC London with Tamana. Tamana appears at 17.20 or three hours and 20 minutes in.