The matter being heard before the court of appeal will determine if Shamima Begum’s right to a fair trial have been disregarded
During the two-day online hearing, Begum’s lawyers challenged a ruling by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (“Siac”) made earlier this year which argued that that she has not been rendered stateless because she is entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship by descent. Instead they argued on her behalf that she cannot effectively challenge the government’s decision to deprive her of British citizenship while she is in a detention camp in northern Syria.
Opening her case, Tom Hickman QC suggested that the key issue was whether the absence of “a fair or effective means of challenging the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship” made the decision unlawful. He postulated that the case breached natural justice as her appeal cannot be pursued in a manner that satisfies even minimum requirements of fair procedure.
Begum is being assisted in her application by human rights organisation Liberty, which has supported the case in a bid to uphold what they have termed the right to a fair trial in the increasing use of “citizenship stripping” by the Home Office. In this case, a spokesperson on behalf of the organisation suggested that the government was wrong and irresponsible to effectively banish its citizens as it has other powers at its disposal, including criminal law, which it could and should use to deal with those suspected of terrorism.
The matter continues.
