09 January 2025 , 13:26
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Shamima Begum will not be allowed to return to the UK, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said, despite calls from Donald Trump’s counter-terrorism chief for British members of so-called Islamic State to be repatriated.
Sebastian Gorka has called for any “serious ally” of the United States to commit to taking back citizens currently languishing in Syrian prison camps.
But today, the Foreign Secretary confirmed the Government had no plans to allow Begum, who left east London to join IS when she was 15, to return to the UK.
Mr Lammy told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: "Shamima Begum will not be coming back to the UK. It’s gone right through the courts. She’s not a UK national.
"We will not be bringing her back to the UK. We’re really clear about that.
Shamima Begum who ran away from London as a teenager to join the Islamic State. Picture: Alamy
"We will act in our security interests. And many of those in those camps are dangerous, are radicals."
Some of them, if they were to return to the UK, "would have to be, frankly, jailed as soon as they arrived", he added.
Aged 15, Shamima Begum travelled from Bethnal Green, east London, into territory controlled by IS.
She was "married off" to an IS fighter and was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Gorka said: "Any nation which wishes to be seen to be a serious ally and friend of the most powerful nation in the world should act in a fashion that reflects that serious commitment" when asked if the UK should be forced to accept Isis members back.
"That is doubly so for the UK which has a very special place in President Trump’s heart and we would all wish to see the ’special relationship’ fully re-established."