Shamima Begum - What Have We Become

To the evident satisfaction of those out there on the right - deeply unpleasant former Murdoch editor Kelvin McFilth was especially righteous in this regard - Shamima Begum remains stateless in Syria after her latest appeal was rejected by a semi-secret court. What Mr Justice Jay effectively said was that the Home Secretary is the ultimate arbiter in such cases.

Shamima Begum

Kel sneered “Gary Lineker tweets that the Shamima Begum decision to keep her out of the UK ‘feels very wrong.’ What is ‘very wrong’ is that viewers who disagree with his Lefty position are still forced to fund his £1million BBC pay package. Time to rip up that contract”. Empathy is now a “Lefty position”.

McFilth then blamed Ms Begum for the Manchester Arena bombing. “Much admire teacher Jade Gough, injured in the Manchester Arena bombing, for saying; ‘Those innocent pop fans never came home, why should she.’' Publicly-funded Gary Lineker and Lefty tosser Owen Jones might reflect on Jade’s views and change their nauseating pro-Begum stance”.

Sadly, Kel can’t differentiate between the Middle East and north Africa. But he is brim full of hateful bigotry, an attribute which appears not only to be spreading, especially when combined with racism, but also to be swaying the judgment of politicians who should know better. Like the Labour leader.

Unlike a former leader of the Lib Dems: “If she was white and called Sharon from Manchester, it wouldn’t even occur to the govt to take the passports of somebody ‘obviously’ British” … Ex Lib Dem leader [Tim Farron] says Shamima Begum’s UK citizenship stripping is a “reminder [that] not everyone's equal.” Farron was talking to Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel.

Still on the produce of the Global empire, Matt Harris observed “On Shamima Begum ex-MI6 Chief Sir John Sawers tells [Andrew Marr] ‘I think at some point western countries are going to have take responsibility for their citizens, or former citizens, & deal with them here where we can keep an eye on them & bring them to justice’”. As opposed to abdicating responsibility.

Intolerant then ...

Which is the stance of the current Home Secretary, and that at the time the decision to strip a British Citizen of her citizenship was first taken, accompanied by the lame excuse that, technically, Ms Begum could apply for Bangladeshi citizenship. Except Bangladesh has declined the idea.

So Ms Begum remains stateless, along with the impression being given, as Tim Farron implied, that the Government is getting away with it because she is not white. It was also, as John Sawers told Marr, what looked very much like that same Government is shirking its responsibility in the matter.

Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal put it directly. “Shamima Begum was born here to British nationals, educated here, radicalised here as a child, trafficked (the court accept that) & she is OUR problem & should be tried here … Secret national security concerns need to be heard before that jury … We can’t have second class citizens.” Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy agreed.

“Shamima Begum was born & groomed in the UK and trafficked to Syria as a minor by a western spy [a representative of the Canadian security services] … The Government's choice to strip her of citizenship is a dereliction of duty - It highlights the two-tier citizenship system which now exists in our country”. But Sajid Javid, who took the initial decision, was happy with the result.

Sunny Hundal was not. “1) You condemned an alleged terrorist to live in another country, rather than taking ownership. UK police should have arrested and tried her here in Britain. What if other countries did this to us? 2) You've removed her citizenship b/c of her Bangladeshi heritage - disgusting”.

... and intolerant now

What if Albania found a way to strip some of its nationals of their citizenship while awaiting deportation from the UK? Send them somewhere else, parents born in another country. Other country then refuses to play ball.

That did not, to his shame, sway Keir Starmer, who was lightly grilled on the subject on BBC Breakfast. “I think the court decision yesterday is the right decision … obviously, the court has looked at all of the information, got all the evidence, not only that was available at the time, but all the evidence that’s available since then. National security has to come first, the court’s reached its decision, it’s looked at all the evidence. I support that decision”.

There was more. “And as I say, national security has to come first”. But that wasn’t quite what Mr Justice Jay said: he stressed that our “Constitutional Settlement” meant that the Home Secretary had the power to make the final decision, even though “reasonable people with knowledge of all the relevant evidence will differ”. To no surprise, press intolerance was off the scale.

At the Mail, the odious Sue Reid sneered “Thank heavens Shamima Begum's slick PR blitz - aided by the BBC - has failed to win her the right to return to Britain”. The Murdoch Sun snarks “don’t kid yourself we are yet rid of her for good” and berates “the BBC/Labour/Guardian axis of feeble”.

It is hard to imagine this happening to anyone who was white. Ms Begum should, if there are charges to answer, return to the UK and face justice. She should not be made stateless just to appease the racist right.

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