A 19-year-old woman who ran away from the U.K. to join ISIS has been stripped of her British citizenship. Shamima Begum left London in 2015 when she was 15 to live in the Islamic State. The U.K. said that anyone who joined ISIS was a terrorist and had no right to a British passport. Ms Begum was found in a refugee camp in Syria earlier this week. British newspapers and TV stations interviewed her. She spoke of her desire to return to her home in London. She gave birth to her third child days after the interviews. Her first two babies died from malnutrition. Shamima got married to an ISIS fighter several weeks after reaching Syria. She said she enjoyed life in the IS as a housewife.
Under international law, the U.K. cannot take away anyone's passport if that person becomes stateless. The U.K. said Ms Begum is a citizen of Bangladesh because her mother was born there. However, Bangladesh's ministry of foreign affairs said Ms Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. It said there is "no question" of her being allowed into the country. Bangladesh is "deeply concerned" that the U.K. has called her a Bangladeshi national. Ms Begum said she only has "one citizenship". She said: "I wasn't born in Bangladesh, I've never seen Bangladesh...so how can they claim I have Bangladeshi citizenship?" The U.K. said Ms Begum's baby could still be British.
