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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
World
Brian Niemietz

Teen who joined Islamic State won't be allowed to return to Britain with her newborn

She's only just Begum.

The London teenager who ran away to join Islamic State is being denied re-entry to Great Britain where she now wants to live with her son, whose dad is a jailed terrorist.

A lawyer for Shamima Begum, 19, tweeted his regrets that his client was having her citizenship revoked by the nation she betrayed.

"Family are very dissapointed (sic) with the Home Office's intention to have an order made depriving Shamima of her citizenship," Mohammed T. Akunjee tweeted Tuesday.

Begum was 15 when she fled her East London home with two schoolmates to link up with the violent terror organization. Less than two weeks after arriving in Syria, she married an Islamic State fighter who was recently apprehended by Syrian forces.

The pair reportedly had two other children, who died from malnutrition. Begum was hoping to raise her third child, born Sunday, in London. The teenager and her son are living in a refugee camp.

By her own admission, Begum knew about the violent nature of Islamic State when she left her family home in Bethnal Green almost four years ago, but was reportedly all right with the beheadings of journalists and such.

"From what I heard, Islamically that is all allowed, so I was OK with it," she told Sky News.

Begum's expulsion from England will likely face legal hurdles as the teen is now a woman without a country. British Home Secretary Sajid Javid vowed last week to block the return of any British citizens who fled the island to join Islamic State.

However, according to Al-Jazeera, Justice Minister David Gauke doesn't believe a person can be rendered stateless. It isn't believed Begum sought citizenship in another country during her time in the Middle East. Begum's attorney vowed to fight on.

"We are considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision," he tweeted.

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