Two more jihadi brides who joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are believed to have been stripped of their UK citizenship while living in a refugee camp in Syria. The disclosure came as a row intensified over the death of a three-week-old baby whose mother Shamima Begum had been stripped of her British citizenship. Reema Iqbal, 30, along with her sister Zara Iqbal, 28, are mothers of five children between them, and are also in a camp. Legal sources told the Sunday Times that the sisters have had their citizenship removed after marrying into a terror cell linked to the execution of western hostages. A decision to remove their citizenship will fuel fears over what happens to the children of jihadi brides. The two women left Newham in London in 2013 for the co-called Isil caliphate. At least one of their sons was born in the UK and was taken to Syria. The women's parents are originally from Pakistan, and the Home Office could pursue the argument that they are Pakistani nationals. Last month Reema Iqbal told The Telegraph she was hopeful of returning to the UK. She said: "The security services came to speak to me and I was honest, I told them my whole story so now it’s up to them to judge. I don’t know if my Mum ever got me a Pakistani passport or not, I’ve never been to Pakistan. "There’s not enough food for bigger families. It’s a prison here, but we’re serving no sentence. If I face court, fine, but take me back to the UK, that’s where I’m from.” Sajid Javid, the home secretary, was facing cross-party criticism after Kurdish officials confirmed that the three-week-old baby of Shamima Begum, 19, had died this week. Shamima Begum Credit: MetropolitanPpolice Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, blamed Mr Javid’s decision to remove Ms Begum’s citizenship for the child’s death, accusing him of breaking international law and condemning the decision as “callous and inhumane”. Phillip Lee, a Tory MP said the decision had been driven by populism and that the British government had failed in its moral responsibility to both mother and child. “I was just troubled by the decision. It seemed driven by a sort of populism, not any principle I recognise,” he told the BBC’s Today programme. The news of the death came as Ms Begum’s father Ahmed Ali offered an apology to the British public for his daughter's decision to flee the country and join the terror group. Speaking from his home in the village of Dovroy, in north-eastern Bangladesh, he told the BBC: "She has done wrong, I apologise to everyone as her father, to the British people, I am sorry for Shamima's doing. I request to the British people, please forgive her." Mr Ali said added he only visited London three or four months at a time and had no idea how his daughter had become radicalised. He urged the British government and public to "take her back and punish her if she had done any mistake".
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2F18dje
via Latest News
Comments
Post a Comment