LONDON: The collapse of a terrorism trial involving a 16-year-old-girl could help to revive Daesh recruit Shamima Begum’s own legal battle to be allowed to return to the UK.
The case against the teenage terror suspect, who is the youngest girl ever charged with terrorism in the UK and cannot be named for legal reasons, was dropped this month after she successfully argued she was a victim of modern slavery. It is the first time a terrorism prosecution in the UK has been halted due to a claim of sexual exploitation.
The decision could open the door for teenage Daesh recruits, such as Begum, to go free on the basis that they were groomed online, said Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.
“Being both a victim of modern slavery and presenting a risk to the general public are not incompatible,” he said. “If fewer criminal cases are going to be possible, this begs the question whether there are sufficient non-criminal justice measures in place, in particular to deal with the terrorist risk presented by children.”
The unnamed teenager, from Derbyshire, was found to be in possession of a bomb-making video and instructions for assembling a gun, after her mother alerted authorities about the girl’s “fixation” with Adolf Hitler.
She was charged with terror offenses but the case was dropped when the Home Office decided she was a victim of modern slavery after her lawyers argued she had been sexually exploited and groomed online by a US extremist.
That case could have widespread ramifications for Daesh recruits from the UK such as Begum. She traveled to Syria to join the terrorist group in 2015, when she was 15, and has for several years been fighting a legal battle to be allowed to return to the UK from the Kurdish-administered camp in northern Syria where she has been living since she was captured.
Before she went to Syria she had been in contact with Daesh members online. She married and gave birth to three children after arriving in the country, all of whom died.
Her citizenship was revoke by the British government on the grounds of national security. This prevented her from returning to the UK, where she had lived her entire life before going to Syria.
Referring to the dropping of the case against the 16-year-old this month, Begum’s lawyer said: “Shamima has been arguing this from the beginning. This just strengthens her case.”
