Shamima Begum loses final bid to challenge removal of British citizenship

Last year, Ms Begum lost her appeal against the decision to revoke her citizenship on national security grounds

Shamima Begum (PA) (PA Media)

Shamima Begum will not be allowed to challenge the removal of her British citizenship at the Supreme Court, justices have ruled.

Last year, Ms Begum lost her appeal against the decision to revoke her citizenship on national security grounds at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp following her travel to the country as a 15-year-old in 2015.

On Wednesday, justices at the UK’s highest court said Ms Begum could not appeal again after she lost a Court of Appeal bid in February.

In their decision, Lords Reed, Hodge and Lloyd-Jones denied Ms Begum the green light to go to the Supreme Court, finding her proposed appeal grounds “do not raise an arguable point of law”.

The three justices said that there was no arguable challenge to the Court of Appeal’s decision, including on whether Ms Begum should have been able to make representations to the then-Home Secretary before she was removed of her citizenship.

Dismissing her Court of Appeal challenge in February, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, said: “It could be argued the decision in Ms Begum’s case was harsh.

“It could also be argued that Ms Begum is the author of her own misfortune, but it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view.

“The only task of the court was to assess whether the deprivation decision was unlawful.

“Since it was not, Ms Begum’s appeal is dismissed.”

In March, Court of Appeal judges rejected Ms Begum’s initial bid to take her case to the Supreme Court.