Isis bride Shamina Begum today lost her battle for British citizenship but it has been warned there could be around 20 other jihadi brides in Syrian refugee camps looking to return to the UK.
Ms Begum, now 24, travelled to Syria in 2015 to join the terror group at the age of 15.
She has been fighting to regain her citizenship since she had it revoked on national security grounds in 2019 after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp.
But in December it was revealed that there could be ‘dozens’ more Isis brides in refugee camps in the Middle East after the collapse of Islamic State.
UK charities looking to repatriate the women said this also includes around 40 children.
An estimated 60 Britons are based in the camp, including Shamima Begum, who departed from London as a teenager in 2015 to join Islamic State (File Photo)
Ms Begum had her citizenship revoked on national security grounds shortly after she was found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019
It comes as British jihadi brides detained in the camps expressed fears they would die if they weren’t repatriated due to an ‘alarming’ collapse in living conditions.
The testimony of the mothers detained at the Roj camp in the north east of Syria, also home to Shamima Begum, was revealed in a series of WhatsApp messages seen by The Guardian last month.
In one message, sent last September, a British mother in her 20s says she feels that UK authorities have ignored her.
‘I’m going to die here if they don’t get me out soon,’ the message sent to UK family members said. ‘I really, really want to go back and be with you guys. I really need hospital care.’
Others, sent by a small number of British mothers to the UK throughout last year, depict abysmal conditions within the camp, which holds about 3,000 people, 65 per cent of whom are children.
Ministers have been under growing pressure to accept the returning brides with former Home Secretary Suella Braverman leading opposition to the move in the weeks before she was sacked.
Ms Braverman is understood to have objected to pressure from the Foreign Office – then headed by her successor as Home Secretary, James Cleverly – on the grounds that the women would present a security risk if they were allowed to come back.
A source said: ‘We think there could be dozens of these women, and each one would need to be monitored 24/7 by a team of specialist police officers, which would be a massive drain on resources.’
However, while security sources admit the potential return of jihadi brides is a ‘live issue’, they dispute that it involves a significant number of potential returnees.
Diplomatic sources say that Washington has been pressing the British to repatriate UK citizens who are languishing either in Kurdish prisons or in refugee camps in northern Syria.
Camp Roj is one of several camps that has been holding families of individuals with alleged links to ISIL for the past five years, according to the UN (File Photo)
The WhatsApp messages describe children ravaged by hunger, premature deaths from treatable diseases, and harmful fumes from oilfields aggravating those with asthma, as well as lung inflammations and suspected deaths (File Photo)
After Islamic State was uprooted in Syria by Kurdish forces with American support in 2019, male fighters – including British men – were sent to prisons in the north of the country.
But women and children were detained in two refugee camps called Roj and Al-Hol, also in northern Syria.
Camp Roj is one of several camps that has been holding families of individuals with alleged links to ISIL for the past five years, according to the UN.
Most European countries, including Spain and France, have also repatriated their citizens so that they can be met with justice.
They have expressed worries about the squalid conditions and that not returning them hinders worldwide attempts to eradicate terrorism.
The British government has taken citizenship away from most of the women.
Last year, Ms Begum lost a challenge against the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which said the removal of her citizenship was lawful.
Ms Begum’s lawyers then brought a bid to overturn that decision at the Court of Appeal which the Home Office opposed.
In a ruling this morning, three judges dismissed Ms Begum’s appeal.
Giving the ruling, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: ‘It could be argued the decision in Ms Begum’s case was harsh.
‘It could also be argued that Ms Begum is the author of her own misfortune. But it is not for this court to agree or disagree with either point of view.’