Shamima Begum: Isis bride 'granted legal aid' to fight decision to strip her of UK citizenship

Legal aid rules state that funding should be available if case is held in British court and plaintiff has no means to pay

Shamima Begum has been granted legal aid to appeal the Home Office’s decision to strip her of her citizenship, according to reports.

The family of the 19-year-old Isis bride have reportedly hired human rights lawyer Gareth Pierce, who once represented the radical Islamic preacher Abu Qatada, to represent her.

According to a report in The Daily Mail, Ms Begum has been awarded legal aid to appeal against home secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to revoke her citizenship after an application was made on 19 March.

It is estimated that the legal bill could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to the newspaper.

Although lawyers have not been able to speak to Ms Begum at the refugee camp she is staying at in Syria, the Legal Aid Agency has reportedly accepted that her family can initiate an appeal and apply for funding on her behalf.

Legal aid rules state that even though Ms Begum is no longer a British citizen, funding should be available if the case is held in a British court and plaintiff has no means to pay.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who has represented the Begum family since 2015, was quoted in report confirming that legal aid had been granted to Ms Begum.

Mr Akunjee said that he passed on the case to Gareth Pierce after authorities at the al-Roj refugee camp where Ms Begum is staying would not let him see her.

Ms Begum's case will now be heard by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, although she will not be present at any hearing because she has been banned from returning to the UK.

The Home Office told The Daily Mail: "We do not comment on individual cases, but any decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on all available evidence and not taken lightly."

A Legal Aid Agency spokesperson said they were “unable to comment on individual cases”, adding: “Anybody applying for legal aid in a Special Immigration Appeal Commission case is subject to strict eligibility tests.”

It comes after reports that Ms Begum was a member of the Isis morality police, a feared group which enforced the terror organisation’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.

The claims are in contrast to Ms Begum’s claim that she was only a “housewife” during her time living with the group in Syria.

But according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph, she played a much more active role in the organisation’s reign of terror as a member of the “hisba”, which punishes those found flouting Isis laws on how to dress and behave.

Mr Begum was reportedly seen holding an automatic weapon and shouting at Syrian women in the city of Raqqa for wearing brightly coloured shoes.

Ms Begum has been stuck in a displacement camp in Syria for months after being detained while leaving Isis territory.

The teenager fled her home in Bethnal Green four years ago with two other schoolgirls to join the Isis caliphate in Syria.

She arrived heavily pregnant at al-Hol camp earlier this year, and gave birth shortly after. But her newborn son, named Jarrah, died from a lung infection last month. It was her third child to have died during her time living in the caliphate.

Sajid Javid stripped Ms Begum of her citizenship in February and pledged to block British citizens suspected of joining Isis from returning to the UK where possible.

The attention on her case has sparked a debate over how the UK should deal with British citizens who went to join Isis.

Only one in 10 of around 400 jihadis who returned from Syria and Iraq have been prosecuted, and the government has increasingly resorted to citizenship deprivation as a means to prevent their return.