Shamima Begum: Home Office asked to show Isis bride 'mercy' over citizenship

‘It is extremely unlikely that Shamima will be in a fit state to make any rational decisions’

Shamima Begum’s mother has asked the Home Office to reinstate the teenager’s British citizenship, in a letter sent to officials this morning.

Sajid Javid announced his department was stripping Ms Begum of her citizenship in February, shortly after she resurfaced in a refugee camp in Syria and asked to return home to the UK.

The Isis supporter left London and travelled to Syria to join the self-declared caliphate in 2015.

“We write specifically on behalf of Mrs Begum, Shamima Begum’s mother to ask you to reconsider your previous decision dated 19 February 2019 to deprive her daughter Begum of her British citizenship,” the letter, sent by the Begum family’s lawyers to the Home Office, reads.

“Ms Begum requests this reconsideration, as an act of mercy, on the basis of the following new information, namely the death of her newborn son.”

The letter suggests “it is extremely unlikely that Shamima will be in a fit state to make any rational decisions”.

“You will appreciate there are immediate fears for Shamima’s health and safety, and the matter is urgent,” it adds.

The Begum family said they have been unable to contact the 19-year-old directly.

Ms Begum told The Times in February that she did not regret her decision to pledge allegiance to Isis but wanted to return home so her child, then not yet born, could live.

On Friday the Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed that the teenager’s newborn son, Jarrah, had died.

The Independent has contacted the Home Office for comment.