Section:GDN 1N PaGe:16 Edition Date:190807 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 6/8/2019 19:50 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Wednesday 7 August 2019
(^16) National
Police pursue journalists for
information on Isis teenager
Jim Waterson
Media editor
The Metropolitan police are trying to
gain access to unpublished material
held by journalists who interviewed
Shamima Begum, one of the teenage
girls who ran away from east London
to join Islamic State in 2015, before a
potential prosecution.
Sajid Javid, then home secretary,
revoked Begum ’s British citizenship
earlier this year , which left her eff ec-
tively stateless. Begum’s family are
challenging the decision in the courts.
Scotland Yard is trying, under a
provision of the Terrorism Act 2000,
to force the BBC, ITN, Sky News and
the Times to hand over material they
hold on her that could potentially aid
a prosecution if Begum were granted
the right to return to the UK.
The Times, Sky News and ITN have
chosen to collectively fi ght the unusual
proposed order. The BBC is facing
a separate request for journalistic
material relating to Begum and would
not comment on whether it intended
to object in the courts.
The Met said offi cers would contact
media organisations “if they believe
that they may have information or
evidence that could assist a criminal
investigation”.
“We fully respect the media’s
independence. The decision to grant
or deny the production order, quite
properly, lies with the court ,” it added.
A hearing was due to take place
yesterday morning at the Old Bailey,
but it was postponed after the assigned
judge , Mr Justice Sweeney , concluded
he was too senior to hear the case due
to a quirk in terrorism legislation.
Begum, who is believed to be 19,
remains in a camp in Syria while the
case over her citizenship continues.
Haroon Siddique
The family of a seriously ill fi ve-year-
old girl are taking on an NHS trust in
court to try to force doctors to release
her for what they believe would be life-
saving treatment abroad.
Tafi da Raqeeb, from Newham, east
London, sustained a traumatic brain
injury in February and is on a life-
support machine at Royal London
hospital. Her parents want to fl y her
to Italy for treatment but doctors at
the hospital, part of Bart’s NHS trust,
say it would not be in her best interests
and life support should be withdrawn.
The trust has asked the high court
to adjudicate in the case next month.
Her parents, Shelina Begum and
Mohammed Raqeeb, have set up a
petition urging the hospital to release
Tafida for treatment as well as a
crowdfunding page seeking to raise
£400,000 for the costs of treatment,
travel to Italy and legal costs to fi ght
the trust’s decision.
In a statement on the crowdfund-
ing page, they wrote: “We believe
Tafi da should be given the chance of
life, and the opportunity to recover
and the Gaslini children’s hospital in
Genoa , Italy, shares our opinion. Doc-
tors there are willing to treat Tafi da but
the Royal London hospital is trying to
stop us, and is thereby denying our
wishes and surely our right as parents
to act in what we know to be the best
interests of our beloved daughter.”
They described Tafi da as a kind
and beautiful child. She has been in
hospital since 9 February because of
a condition called arteriovenous mal-
formation , a tangle of blood vessels
with abnormal artery and vein con-
nections. She had suff ered a ruptured
blood vessel in her brain.
Her parents said they were ini-
tially told that Tafi da would have a
tracheostomy, allowing her to come
off the ventilator and even perhaps go
home, to continue her recovery, after
a few months. But the medical team
changed their mind and decided ven-
tilation should be withdrawn to end
the child’s life, they said.
Begum and Raqeeb say their daugh-
ter is not brain dead and has shown
gradual but encouraging signs of
recovery, including in her breathing.
“She has a sleep and wake cycle, she
can feel pain, she is able to move her
limbs, face, lips, mouth and head and
she can track us with her eyes as we
move around the room,” they said.
By mid-afternoon yesterday the
petition had amassed more than
27,000 signatures against a target of
35,000 and the crowdfunding page
had raised about £15,000, including
an anonymous donation of £10,000.
The case has close parallels with
that of Charlie Gard , the baby with
mitochondrial disease whose parents
wanted to take him to the US for exper-
imental treatment. Doctors at Great
Ormond Street hospital, where he was
being treated, believed it would only
prolong his suff ering. Chris Gard and
Connie Yates dropped the often acri-
monious legal battle in July 2017 after
saying it was too late for the experi-
mental procedure to work. Charlie
died four days later.
Bart s NH S trust said: “This is a sad
situation, in which our teams continue
to work very closely with the family to
include them and off er our support.
Our expert clinicians caring for Tafi da
consider, in discussion with additional
medical experts from specialist cen-
tres outside of the trust, that further
medical treatment would not improve
her condition and would not be in her
best interests.
“We recognise how diffi cult this
is for all involved and, in accordance
with national guidance from the Gen-
eral Medical Council in complex cases,
are seeking the expert opinion of the
high court to ensure the trust and fam-
ily provide the most appropriate care.”
Parents to fi ght NHS in
court over move to take
away girl’s life support
▲ Shamima Begum ran away from
east London in 2015 to join Isis
▲ Tafi da Raqeeb, whose family are
resisting ending her life support care
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