The father of a British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group in Syria said that his daughter’s citizenship should not be revoked and that she should return to the UK and be punished if it was determined that she had committed a crime.
Shamima Begum fled east London with two friends to travel to Syria to marry IS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group’s online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people.
Begum, now 19, resurfaced at a refugee camp in Syria and told reporters recently that she wants to come home. But her apparent lack of remorse has triggered criticism in Britain and the family has expressed its own shock at her lack of repentance.
British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has revoked Begum’s citizenship despite saying he wouldn’t make a decision that would render a person stateless. Her family has insisted she isn’t a dual citizen. The case is pending in the courts.
