![\"Shamima](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/shamima-begum.jpg\")
<\/p>\nShamima Begum could be poised to make an extraordinary return to the UK after EU judges formally laid down a challenge to Britain.<\/p>\n
The European Court of Human Rights has formally contacted the Home Office regarding Begum’s citizenship case.<\/p>\n
Strasbourg is said to believe her human rights may have been violated – and has demanded Shabana Mahmood’s department justifies its decision to strip the jihadi bride of her British citizenship.<\/p>\n
Begum’s lawyers at Birnberg Peirce Solicitors have described the ECHR’s intervention as an “unprecedented opportunity”.<\/p>\n
But the move could open the door to a major clash between SW1 and Strasbourg.<\/p>\n
ECHR judges have asked the Government whether it broke human rights and anti-trafficking laws.<\/p>\n
The Home Office must now respond to four questions about how it handled the removal of Begum’s citizenship.<\/p>\n
One question specifically asks whether Article 4 of the Convention was breached when her citizenship was revoked.<\/p>\n
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has strongly opposed any possibility of Begum returning to Britain.<\/p>\n
He told the Daily Express: “Under no circumstances should Shamima Begum ever step foot in the UK again. She chose to get into bed with Isis terrorists and must now live with the consequences.”<\/p>\n
Shamima Begum could be poised to make an extraordinary return to the UK<\/p>\n
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Mr Jenrick also used the case to argue for Britain’s withdrawal from the controversial continental court altogether.<\/p>\n
“We don’t need a foreign court in Strasbourg to tell us who can or can’t come into this country,” the top Tory raged.<\/p>\n
“This is yet another glaring example of why we must leave the ECtHR and take back control of our borders.”<\/p>\n
Ex-Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who was involved in the Home Office’s citizenship deprivation case during his time as Security Minister, has dismissed any suggestion that Begum was a victim.<\/p>\n
He told the Express: “She went of her own free will to support a cause that doesn’t believe in any Western court.”<\/p>\n
READ MORE ON SHAMIMA BEGUM:<\/p>\n
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‘She went of her own free will to support a cause that doesn’t believe in any Western court,’ Sir Ben Wallace said<\/p>\n
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Sir Ben continued: “She wasn’t a victim. She knowingly and freely joined ISIS and assisted them in the prosecution of their murderous campaign.<\/p>\n
“She deserved to lose her citizenship.”<\/p>\n
He then pointed out the apparent irony of jihadi bride Begum invoking a legal system that Isis would seek to destroy.<\/p>\n
“The cheek of her going through a court system that she and the other terrorists would fundamentally want to destroy isn\u2019t lost on anybody,” he jabbed.<\/p>\n
Begum grew up in Bethnal Green, east London, before travelling to Syria at the age of 15 almost 11 years ago.<\/p>\n
She made the journey alongside two school friends to join the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
![\"Shamima](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767143293_304_shamima-begum.jpg\")
Shamima Begum, pictured in more Western attire, travelled to Syria from London in February 2015<\/p>\n
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After arriving, she married Dutch Islamic convert Yago Riedijk.<\/p>\n
The couple had three children together, all of whom died in infancy.<\/p>\n
Then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship in 2019, based on her eligibility to claim Bangladeshi citizenship, meaning she would not become “stateless”.<\/p>\n
The UK Supreme Court later upheld this ruling.<\/p>\n