The government has deprived Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, in a move the teenager’s lawyer says makes her and her baby effectively stateless.

The security minister previously said the Isis supporter had a right to return to the UK from Syria as a British national, and the justice secretary said she could not be made stateless.

But a letter from the Home Office obtained by ITV News told her family that Sajid Javid made an order “removing her British citizenship” on Tuesday.

The document, addressed to Begum’s mother, said the decision was taken “in light of the circumstances of your daughter”.

“I would be very grateful if you could ensure the home secretary’s decision is brought to her attention, along with her right to appeal,” it added.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the city’s entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

The family’s lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, told The Independent Begum had been a British national and had “never had a Bangladeshi passport”.

He said that although Bangladeshi law affords citizenship to foreign residents with parents from the country, the Dhaka government “does not know who she is”.

“It’s an entitlement,” Mr Akunjee said: “Our position is that to all practical purposes she has been made stateless.”

The lawyer also accused the government of making Begum’s days-old son stateless, and leaving them both “stuck” in a Syrian detention camp.

He said the family would launch a legal challenge, adding: “This is a delaying tactic. The government is not going to win this, there is case law saying people in these circumstances are stateless and we will win but how long will that take?”

The Home Office declined to comment on Mr Akunjee’s allegations but said: “We do not make people stateless.”

Ms Begum’s family is of Bangladeshi descent and in Syria she married a Dutch foreign fighter.

The citizenship of their child is unclear, and in a previous case a baby born to a female Isis supporter in Syria was only given British citizenship after a DNA test proving her parentage.

Sajid Javid (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty)

Government guidance states that the home secretary can deprive citizenship for the “public good” if a person can apply for alternative nationality.

“This action may only be taken if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able, under the law of a country outside the United Kingdom, to become a national of that country,” says a document published last year.

“In practice, this power means the Secretary of State may deprive and leave a person stateless if that person is able to acquire (or reacquire) the citizenship of another country.”

Mr Javid previously suggested he would seek to prevent Begum’s return to the UK, but the security minister had said she was legally entitled to.

“As a British citizen she has a right to come home here,” Ben Wallace said last week. “We are obliged to make sure our citizens have rights, no matter who they are.”

Begum left the UK aged 15 in 2015 with two other friends from Bethnal Green Academy, joining a fourth girl from the same school in Syria.

In media interviews she has said she has “no regrets” about joining Isis and called the Manchester attack “justified”.

On Saturday, the justice secretary David Gauke said the government “can’t make people stateless”.

In November the government was found to have acted unlawfully in removing the citizenship of two British alleged Islamists.

The government said the men were eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship, but the Special Immigration and Appeals Commission found they had been made stateless.

In 2017, the government was found to have unlawfully stripped a third person of Bangladeshi descent of British citizenship.

The London-born woman, known as G3, was alleged to be an Isis member and was detained by Turkish authorities on the Syrian border with her two young children in 2016.

Use of citizenship deprivations has been increasing. In 2017, the government stripped 104 people of their British citizenship, compared to just 14 people in 2016.