The row over the fate of Shamima Begum, the British-born teenager who travelled from east London to Syria to join Islamic State in 2015, has taken a further twist as the home secretary ordered she be deprived of her British citizenship.

Sajid Javid has sought to adopt a tough stance in respect of Begum’s case but he was immediately faced with the prospect of a legal battle as Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer for her relatives, said they were “considering all legal avenues to challenge the decision”, that had left them “very disappointed”.

Begum was 15 when she left her home in Bethnal Green and is now in a refugee camp in Syria, where she gave birth to a boy at the weekend.

The 19-year-old had called on the British people to have sympathy for her and asked to be allowed to return to the UK. But Javid insisted he would do all in his power to prevent her coming back.

The Home Office letter sent to Begum’s family. Photograph: ITV news

The Guardian understands the home secretary thinks section 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 gives him the power to strip Begum of her UK citizenship.

He wrote to her family informing them he had made such an order, believing the fact her parents are of Bangladeshi heritage means she can apply for citizenship of that country – though Begum says she has never visited it.

This is crucial because, while the law bars him from making a person stateless, it allows him to remove citizenship if he can show Begum has behaved “in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK” and he has “reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able, under the law of a country or territory outside the UK, to become a national of such a country or territory”.

Begum has 28 days from when the order was made to appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission against Javid’s interpretation of his powers.

The move is likely to prove highly controversial, with legal sources claiming on Tuesday night that the commission had thrown out previous attempts by the government in similar circumstances to strip citizenship.

The human rights campaign group Liberty said Javid must observe the “fundamental principles of due process and the rule of law upon which we all rely”, while meeting his obligation to keep the public safe.

A spokesman said: “The government has an array of powers available to it to deal with people suspected of involvement in terrorism – including the criminal law. Taking away a person’s citizenship is one of the most serious among them and must not be wielded lightly.”

He added that the Home Office’s response “must include a serious look at how a 15 year-old girl was apparently able to leave the country to join a proscribed group without effective action being taken to safeguard her”.

On Tuesday evening, a Home Office spokesman said: “In recent days, the home secretary has clearly stated that his priority is the safety and security of Britain and the people who live here. In order to protect this country, he has the power to deprive someone of their British citizenship where it would not render them stateless.

“We do not comment on individual cases, but any decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on all available evidence and not taken lightly.”

ITV News, which published the letter it said was sent to Begum’s mother on Tuesday, said the Home Office had urged Begum’s family to make her aware of the decision, adding that she had a right to appeal.

Begum left the UK along with two schoolfriends and her case was thrust back into the spotlight last week, when she declared her wish to return for the sake of her child in an interview with the Times.

In a Sky News interview the following Sunday, she said: “I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I’ve been through. You know, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I left ... I was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back.”

But Javid made clear his fierce opposition to her return. Responding to an urgent question in the Commons on Monday he said: “Certainly, anyone that went to support terrorism in any way whatsoever, we are not going to risk the lives of any British officials – soldiers or anyone – to help them or rescue them.”

Javid told MPs more than 900 people had travelled from the UK to Syria or Iraq. “Whatever role they took in the so-called caliphate, they all supported a terrorist organisation and in doing so they have shown they hate our country and the values we stand for.”

Profile Shamima Begum's journey into Isis Show February 2015 At the age of 15, Shamima Begum flees her home in Bethnal Green, east London. She travels with schoolfriends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana. The three intend to meet another friend, Sharmeena Begum – no relation of Shamima – who had travelled to Syria in late 2014. CCTV footage shows the girls walking through Gatwick airport, where they boarded a flight to Turkey. There they are picked up by smugglers and taken across the border to an Isis base in northern Syria. Once there they move into a women’s house in Raqqa and apply to marry. July 2015 The families of the girls say that two of them have married Isis fighters, without disclosing which. They say they are distraught at the news. It later emerges that Begum had married 27-year-old Yago Riedijk, an Isis fighter from the Netherlands, 10 days after arriving in Raqqa. Soon afterwards she became pregnant with her first child, a daughter named Sarayah. July 2016 Abase marries an 18-year-old Australian jihadist, Abdullah Elmir. He was later reported by intelligence agencies to have been killed by a coalition airstrike. August 2016 Sultana’s family say that they believe she had been killed in an airstrike in Raqqa in May 2016. January 2017 Begum and her family flee Raqqa as Isis retreats and head south-east to the town of Mayadin. She has another child, a son called Jerah. Later, the family moves again as Isis is pushed back. June 2018 Begum sees her two surviving classmates, Sharmeena Begum and Abase, for the last time. Late 2018 Jerah dies, aged eight months, of malnutrition and an unknown illness. Her daughter dies soon after, aged one year and nine months. February 2019 Begum, who is heavily pregnant, gives an interview to the Times, in which she says that she should be allowed to return to the UK to raise her unborn third child. She gives birth a few days later. The Home Office tells her family that her citizenship will be revoked. March 2019 Jarrah, Begum's new born son, dies in a Syrian refugee camp. The child was three weeks old.

Photograph: POOL New/X80003

He added that he had the power to ban foreign nationals from the country and to strip “dangerous dual nationals” of their British citizenship. “Over 100 people have already been deprived in this way,” he said.

Javid can also use temporary exclusion orders to bar the return of jihadists for up to two years. He said that Britons who do return to the UK “will be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted”.

In the view of the family’s lawyer, the advice that Begum’s Bangladeshi heritage can be used to deprive her of UK citizenship is incorrect. “Our view is that this would be illegal because they would make her a stateless person, in breach of international law. We are surprised the home secretary does not understand international law, or care about international law,” said Akunjee, when the prospect was raised last week.

“If he were to attempt to put such orders on, we would explore all legal options to block his unlawful actions or appeal. If we can get an injunction, we will.”

After the decision was announced, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, said: “Membership of a terrorist group is a serious crime, as is encouraging or supporting terrorism. But Shamima Begum should face justice for those crimes in the UK.

“It is not only hard to see Ms Begum and her baby as constituting a serious threat to national security, but it also seems a huge wasted opportunity. We can learn lessons as to why a young girl went to Syria in the first place; lessons which could improve Britain’s security by helping us prevent this happening again.”

The Labour MP, Stella Creasy, said: “However horrific her defence of Isis, if the home secretary can start with stripping this woman and her week-old child of their citizenship for his leadership bid, where does it end?” Creasy added that she too would prefer to see Begum dealt with by the domestic justice system.

The Conservative chair of the Commons education committee, Robert Halfon, who had spoken out against allowing Begum to return, said Javid had made “absolutely the right decision”.

• This article was updated on 20 February 2019 to note that Shamima Begum was born in Britain.





