Border Minister refuses to rule out allowing Shemima Begum to return to UK following fall of Syria regime

A Home Office Minister has refused to rule out letting Shamima Begum return to Britain following the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria.

Begum is currently detained in a camp in Syria after her UK citizenship was revoked by the previous Tory Government.

Dame Angela Eagle, the Border Security Minister, declined to rule out allowing the 25-year-old to return to the UK now that she faces a precarious future following the takeover of the country by rebels last week.

Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, Eagle said: “Her British citizenship has been stripped from her and that decision made by a previous Government has been approved of at the highest levels in the courts, and that’s the current situation.

“I’m not going to get into individual cases, though. It’s not for me as a minister who might be involved to speculate about what the courts might do.”

She added that they are keeping a close eye on all people that could be potentially dangerous to the UK as the situation in Syria develops.

When asked again about Begums specific case, Eagle refused to get into the details.

“Every case would have to be looked at on its merits. And we would also have to have risk assessment about any such cases,” she stated.

Responding to Eagle’s comments Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, said that the Minister’s refusal to rule out Begum’s return “speaks volumes.”

He said: “Conservatives in Government stripped Begum of citizenship and made sure she could not come back here. The courts upheld this. Those who supported the murderous Daesh regime have no place in the UK. It is weak and supine for the Labour Minister to fail to back this approach.”

He added: “With Keir Starmer appointing Begum’s counsel as this country’s top lawyer, Labour urgently need to make clear they will not undo our decision and confirm on whose side they really stand.”

Begum travelled to Syria from London in February 2015 when she was just 15-years-old.

Four years later Begum was found at a Syrian refugee camp, and then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid promptly revoked her citizenship, stating she would never be allowed back to the UK.

This decision was upheld by British courts, although the 25-year-old now wants to now bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

There are around 50,000 male former Isis fighters, as well as women and children, in prisons and camps controlled by Kurdish forces.

Amongst them are 65 people, including Begum, who have held or still hold British citizenship.