Shamima Begum was 'sexually assaulted by ISIS', said her lawyers

At a court to challenge her denial of citizenship, Shamima Begum, the jihadi bride, was trafficked by ISIS for sexual exploitation, according to her attorneys. Her attorneys stated to the tribunal when she filed her main appeal against the ruling that Shamima Begum is a young Muslim woman about whom everyone can have an opinion. On the first day of a five-day hearing before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), Samantha Knights KC, representing Ms. Begum, stated that they would confront a "overwhelming barrier" to present their case. Her attorneys have assembled a team of experts to testify, including medical professionals and psychologists who are knowledgeable about how the developing brain impacts judgment.

The appeal also heard from MI5, who said Ms Begum was an A-star pupil and it was "inconceivable" that she did not know what she was doing.

Dan Squires KC, for Ms Begum, said, in submissions: "It is clear that ISIS deliberately and successfully recruited underage girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation and in particular for the purpose of child marriage - which, under international law, is considered a forced marriage - and the bearing of children, which was an important feature of its state-building project."

Ms. Knights said before the tribunal that Ms. Begum was a "British child, age 15, who was convinced by a determined and successful ISIS propaganda machine to follow a pre-existing route and offer a marriage for an ISIS fighter." Her lawyer said that a Canadian double agent facilitated in her transit into Syria across the Turkish border. Ms. Begum, now 23 years old, departed the country with two pals from East London's Bethnal Green Academy who are believed to have perished in the battle. After ISIS was defeated in January 2018, she was captured and taken to the al-Hawl detention camp before being moved to the al-Roj camp, where she has renounced the terrorist organization and declared her desire to return home.

She called the case "extraordinary" and said Sajid Javid, the home secretary who deprived her of her citizenship, had taken "over-hasty steps" less than a week after Ms Begum gave her first interview from detention in Syria to the Times.

Mr Javid then fed commentary, including an article written by himself, into the process, Ms Knights said.

"That is in direct contrast to the precautionary approach set out by our experts on how to assess the decisions, thoughts, and behavior of an adolescent involved during her teenage years in a child marriage," she added.

The home secretary's duty to protect the public was not "monolithic" and required "wider context" as well as the consideration about the "safeguarding of victims" of trafficking, Ms Knights said.

Philip Larkin, a witness for the Home Office, told the hearing that there had been "no formal conclusion" on whether Ms Begum was the victim of human trafficking.

He accepted that Ms Begum must have had helped to cross the border, telling the tribunal: "Any individual who traveled illegally across the Turkish Syrian border would have needed assistance to make that trip."

But he declined to say whether she had been "recruited" was the victim of "sexual exploitation."

In July last year, the Supreme Court ruled against the Court of Appeal which had said that she should be allowed to return as the risk of her launching an attack could be "addressed and managed".