The Observer - 11.08.2019

• The Observer
  18 11.08.19 News

Legal ploy could

stop Begum’s return

home, says lawyer

Citizenship appeal

for UK Isis teenager

‘deliberately delayed’

Shamima Begum ’s attempt to

overturn the decision to revoke her

UK citizenship is being deliberately

delayed, according to her lawyers, to

give police time to charge the former

Islamic State member with a terror-

ism offence.

Almost six months have passed

since Begum lodged an appeal

against the decision, by the former

home secretary, Sajid Javid. Yet the

19-year-old, who joined Isis aged 15

and remains in Syria, is still waiting

for a date to be set with the Special

Immigration Appeals Commission

(SIAC), which adjudicates on cases

where the home secretary has revoked

someone’s nationality on grounds of

national security.

Begum’s lawyers believe the

“unusual” delay is to give the

Metropolitan Police time to build

a criminal case that can be used to

impose strict conditions on her if she

were to be brought to the UK for a

SIAC hearing.

Without conditions, Begum would

likely be able to move freely around

the UK, something likely to prompt a

fi erce backlash from elements of the

media.

Last week , Scotland Yard applied

for an application under the

Terrorism Act demanding access to

notes from three media organisations

about Begum. One target appears to

be Anthony Loyd , the Times journalist

who found Begum in a refugee camp

in February and reported her lack of

regret over having joined Isis.

Tasnime Akunjee , Begum’s lawyer,

said he believed the police were inves-

tigating the teenager before repatri-

ating her for a SIAC hearing. “The

police are trying to build a criminal

case against her.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that no

progress has been made to bring the

children of British fi ghters in Syria

back to the UK, despite a promise by

the government fi ve months ago.

In March, then foreign secretary

Jeremy Hunt said the Foreign Offi ce

was working with the Department for

International Development on con-

tacting and removing British children

in the Syrian camps.

However, no British minors have

since been removed, with a Foreign

Office spokesperson saying that

“there are things we cannot do

because we do not have a consular

presence within Syria”.

A Commons briefing paper on

returning fi ghters from Syria recently

said that acquiring material against

Britons in Syria was fraught with “dif-

fi culties in obtaining evidence of con-

duct that has taken place abroad in

territory without a functioning crim-

inal justice system that UK authorities

could cooperate with”.

Government sources said the Met

Mark Townsend

Home Affairs Editor

Shamima

Begum, now

19, is living in

a refugee camp,

after having her

UK citizenship

revoked. BBC

did not get involved in SIAC pro-

cesses, which include a Home Offi ce

lawyer and a senior judge and others.

Currently more than 70,000 people

are living in al-Hawl camp in north-

ern Syria, where Begum was found,

with most from Syria and Iraq and

more than 90 % women and children.

It is not known how many Britons

are on offi cial “humanitarian lists” in

al-Hawl but it is believed at least 20

British women and children are being

held in camps run by Kurdish forces

after fl eeing Isis territories.

“We are particularly concerned

about children who are living in the

camps without their parents or habit-

ual guardians, as well as other espe-

cially vulnerable persons. Identifying

and following up on these cases is

in progress,” said an International

Committee of the Red Cross

spokesperson.

Fans defend

Laverne as

Desert

Island host

Listeners to BBC’s Desert Island Discs

have split into factions this weekend

as fans of its latest presenter, Lauren

Laverne, left, have mounted a

high-profi le defence of her

in the face of calls for Radio

4 bosses to re-think her

appointment as Kirsty

Young’s successor.

The outpouring of

love on social media

has come from famous

names such as Matt

Lucas, Irvine Welsh, Robert Webb

and Caitlin Moran, and prompted

Laverne, 41, to post a warm message

of thanks on Twitter on Friday night.

“Today has been an entirely unex-

pected inventory of who is in my

corner. I have to say I couldn’t be hap-

pier. In fact it’s been the best day in

ages. Isn’t it funny how it goes that

way sometimes? Thanks very much

to everyone who has been so kind,”

Laverne wrote.

Radio critics such as the Sunday

Times veteran reviewer Gillian

Reynolds and the Telegraph’s

Charlotte Runcie had already

expressed doubts about the future

of the music-based interview format

with Laverne at the helm. Then the

Spectator magazine weighed in. In a

piece published online yesterday col-

umnist Melanie McDonagh suggested

Laverne had no enthusiasm for clas-

sical music. “There’s no getting away

from it,” wrote McDonagh, “Lauren

is lightweight and uncerebral. Her

capacity to come up with the forget-

table phrase is quite something.”

But McDonagh’s words have now

prompted an avalanche of social

media support for Sunderland-born

Laverne, a former columnist on this

newspaper. Other vocal defend-

ers include David Lammy, Sara Cox,

Mark Kermode and two former Desert

Island Discs guests – singer Tracey

Thorn and composer Nitin Sawhney.

“I am very much in your corner,”

said Thorn, while Sawhney told

Laverne: “A great interviewer has

compassion, empathy, interest in

their subject, sharp wit and an abil-

ity to extract the heart and soul of a

personal journey. All traits of yours.”

The nub of McDonagh’s conten-

tious argument is that Laverne’s

appointment was a vain effort to

attract younger listeners.

Vanessa Thorpe

Arts and Media Correspondent

as fans of its l

Laverne

high

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