Shamima Begum ‘not coming back to UK’, says Lammy following Trump ally’s call
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Shamima Begum will not be returning to the UK, David Lammy said following calls from Donald Trump’s incoming counter-terrorism chief for the repatriation of British members of so-called Islamic State (IS) being held in Syrian prison camps. Sebastian Gorka said any nation which wishes to be seen as a “serious ally” of the US should commit to the international fight against the extremist group by taking back citizens currently languishing in the north east of Syria.
But the Foreign Secretary said the Government would “always put British security interests first and the safeguarding of our population”. Ms Begum was 15 when she travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, into territory controlled by IS in 2015. She was “married off” to an IS fighter and was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019.
The upheaval in Syria following the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime has put the future of the camps holding IS-linked prisoners in doubt. The Syrian Democratic Forces, the anti-Assad group allied with the West, has been guarding tens of thousands of captured foreign IS members and their children in sprawling camps and detention centres.
The Times reported that Ms Begum is one of up to 20 women, 40 children and 10 men from Britain being held in camps. Mr Lammy told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Shamima Begum will not be coming back to the UK. It’s gone right through the courts. She’s not a UK national.
