Shamima Begum: Home secretary Sajid Javid's pledge to block Isis teen's return 'cruel, immoral and illegal'

'It's cruel and devoid of any moral obligations as Sajid Javid is deliberately trying to discharge himself and this country of any responsibility for this young vulnerable British woman'

The home secretary has been accused of “evading his duties” in order to “appear tough" after he announced he would not hesitate to block the return of a British teenager who left the UK to join Isis.

Sajid Javid said on Friday morning that heavily pregnant Shamima Begum and others who had travelled abroad to engage with terror groups were “full of hate for our country” and that he would prevent her from re-entering Britain – effectively making her stateless.

Lawyers and campaigners said blocking the 19-year-old’s return to Britain was “cruel and devoid of any moral obligations” and potentially a breach of international law.

The home secretary’s comments came after security minister Ben Wallace said he would not authorise a rescue operation to facilitate Ms Begum’s return to the UK.

The teenager is currently living in a Syrian camp, where she is being held alongside around 40,000 other family members of Isis fighters.

Human rights lawyer Shoaib Khan said it was unclear how the government could legally prevent Ms Begum’s return, as any attempt to permanently prevent her return while she remained a British citizen would be unlawful.

"Despite the rhetoric from the home secretary, which is clearly an attempt by him to just appear tough, it is unclear how the government can legally prevent her return,” he said.

“Her parents are of Bangladeshi origin, but there is no indication she is Bangladeshi. If she does not have Bangladeshi, or any other, nationality, then revoking her British citizenship would render her stateless, which contravenes international law.

“Also, while she is British, her baby, born anywhere in the world, would be British. Any attempt by the government to prevent that British baby entering the UK would obviously be almost certainly unlawful, whatever the mother’s actions have been before the birth.”

Mr Khan said that even if preventing her return was lawful, the UK should avoid the temptation to “dump unworthy citizens” on other countries or "disown individuals when they commit crimes”.

“As a government and as a nation, we must stop dealing with our undesirable citizens by washing our hands of them and forcing them on others. This not only makes a mockery of the legal system but is wholly irresponsible,” he added

Dr Zubaida Haque, deputy director of the Runnymede Trust, echoed his concerns, saying: “It's cruel and devoid of any moral obligations as Sajid Javid is deliberately trying to discharge himself and this country of any responsibility for this young vulnerable British woman.

“Morally speaking, Shemima Begum is a product of British society. Whether or not you committed a crime on this soil, if you’ve grown up here and you were radicalised here, you are a product of our society.

“It's also reckless because he's playing political football with her life (and her unborn child's life) and it's potentially against international law if he's intending to make her stateless.”

Maya Foa, director of human rights organisation Reprieve, argued that where British nationals detained in Syria were accused of committing crimes, they should be brought back to the UK to face trials in British courts.

“The UK can’t outsource British justice to the murderous regime of Bashar al Assad, the death rows of Iraq, or the legal black hole that is Guantanamo Bay,” she said.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott MP said Labour was not in favour of making people stateless.

But she added that if there were reasonable grounds to suspect that anyone who is entitled to return to the UK either committed or facilitated acts of terrorism, they should be “fully investigated and where appropriate prosecuted”.

It comes after Kurdish officials demanded that the UK fulfils its “moral and legal duty” to repatriate Ms Begum and other British Isis members detained in Syria.

Abdel Karim Omar, a Kurdish foreign affairs official, told The Independent thousands of detained Isis fighters, women and children were a “big burden”.

“They belong to 49 countries, and they don’t have documents and passports,” he added.

“We cannot bear this responsibility alone. We ask the international community and the countries to which Isis members belong to take up its moral and legal duty and repatriate their citizens back to their countries.”