Priti Patel scolds UN for ‘getting involved’ with Shamima Begum: ‘Case is CLOSED!’
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel has launched a scathing attack on the UN, after making a fresh claim about former British citizen Shamima Begum.
British-born Begum fled her home in Bethnal Green to join Islamic State in Syria when she was 15, in 2015.
The Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by Begum on Friday, following a previous appeal in October to reinstate her British citizenship.
One of Begum’s lawyers, Daniel Furner, apologised to Begum and her family for not “receiving justice after five years of fighting”. He vowed that her team are “not going to stop fighting until she does get justice” and is safely back home.
Reacting to the ruling, UN special rapporteurs claimed that Begum was a “possible victim of trafficking” and remains “vulnerable” without her British citizenship.
The UN said in a statement: “There is a credible suspicion that Ms Begum was recruited, transferred and then harboured for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is an international crime, a form of modern slavery.
“Protections owed to victims of trafficking and those at risk of trafficking, especially children, must be respected to be meaningful.”
Reacting to the UN’s intervention, former Home Secretary Priti Patel told GB News that their claims are “wrong” and slammed the intergovernmental organisation for getting involved in the case.
Patel told host Patrick Christys: “It’s absolutely clear, the UN are wrong on this, basically.”
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Patel fumed: “The UN should not be getting involved in what is a very domestic case of the United Kingdom.
“Every Home Secretary, my predecessors, and those I guess that have followed me since have been very clear on this.”
Patel slammed the UN’s claims that they have “evidence” to back their claim, and told them that following the Court of Appeal’s ruling, the case is now over.
She stated: “That case is closed as far as we’re concerned, and the evidence against it is so substantial.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid backed the ruling of the court, and supported them for “upholding my decision to remove an individual’s citizenship on national security grounds”.
Javid added: “This is a complex case, but Home Secretaries should have the power to prevent anyone entering our country who is assessed to pose a threat to it.”