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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Ella Wills

ISIS bride Shamima Begum 'given legal aid to fight for British citizenship'

Shamima Begum has reportedly fled her refugee camp with her baby (Picture: PA)

ISIS bride Shamima Begum has reportedly been granted legal aid to fight the decision to remove her British citizenship.

Lawyers have successfully asked for taxpayers' money on her behalf arguing that the Home Secretary's move to strip the 19-year-old's citizenship was unfair, according to the Daily Mail.

It is understood that the legal bill could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The decision emerged after it was alleged that Ms Begum had been witnessed preparing suicide vests for would-be bombers.

The Mail on Sunday said Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Sajid Javid had been briefed that she sewed vests onto bombers so that they could not be removed without them going off.

Ms Begum, who is currently in a refugee camp in Syria, fled London when she was just 15.

Ms Begum had her British citizenship revoked

She had her British citizenship revoked earlier this year and has since been stuck in a displacement camp for months after being detained when leaving ISIS territory.

However the Mail reported that the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has accepted that Ms Begum's family can initiate an appeal and apply for funding on her behalf.

The LAA apparently agreed to grant funding to lawyers instructed by her family.

The family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee told the newspaper that legal aid had been granted after an application was made on March 19.

Mr Akunjee passed the case onto human rights solicitor Gareth Pierce, who represented former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg.

He said: "I represent the family who initially brought the case on behalf of Shamima Begum, but the family are not entitled to legal aid – the legal aid is for Shamima Begum alone."

Ms Begum arrived heavily pregnant at al-Hol camp in February, and gave birth shortly after. But her newborn son, named Jarrah, died from a lung infection last month.

He was her third child to have died during her time living in the caliphate.

An LAA spokesman said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases.

“Anybody applying for legal aid in a Special Immigration Appeal Commission case is subject to strict eligibility tests.”

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