A lawyer representing her family criticised the home secretary
British authorities failed to protect Shamima Begum from being groomed by Islamic State, according to a lawyer representing the east London girl’s family.
The accusations were made in a letter written to Sajid Javid by Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer representing the family of Begum, who left Britain for Syria in 2015.
She was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp in February of this year by a journalist from the Times, before conducting an interview with the newspaper.
Following that interview, the British government revoked her citizenship. It is illegal under international law to render a person stateless and she has since been granted legal aid to fight that decision.
Akunjee said in the letter that Begum was “born, raised, groomed and radicalised here in the UK”, and as such should be dealt with by the UK.
“Your cynical decision amounts to human fly-tipping.”
In May of this year, Bangladesh declared its intention to execute the now-19-year-old. It was assumed that after the revocation of her British citizenship that she held dual nationality with Bangladesh due to her family.
However, the country denies this, and its foreign minister has said that Begum would be hanged if she stepped foot in the country.
Abdul Momen said his country punishes terrorism offences with capital punishment and the ISIS bride would be hanged.
“She never applied for Bangladeshi citizenship. She was born in England and her mother is British.
“If anyone is found to be involved with terrorism, we have a simple rule: there will be capital punishment. And nothing else.
“She would be put in prison and immediately the rule is she should be hanged.”
