Jihadi bride Shamima Begum today lost her legal challenge over the decision to deprive her of her British citizenship and will not be allowed back to the UK.
Ms Begum was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls travelled to Syria to join ISIS in February 2015.
Her British citizenship was revoked on national security grounds by then-home secretary Sajid Javid shortly after she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019.
The 23-year-old has been locked in a legal battle with the Government ever since, recently challenging the Home Office at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) over the decision.
Following a five-day hearing in November, the tribunal dismissed her challenge today, ruling that while there was a 'credible suspicion' that Ms Begum was trafficked to Syria for 'sexual exploitation' this was not enough for appeal to succeed.
Mr Justice Jay added that whether she posed a threat to national security was a decision for politicians, not the courts.
Ms Begum's lawyers are expected to seek to challenge the judgment in the Court of Appeal.
Jihadi bride Shamima Begum (pictured) today lost a legal battle to reclaim her British citizenship
At the hearing last year, Ms Begum's barristers Samantha Knights KC and Dan Squires KC said she was 'recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of 'sexual exploitation' and 'marriage' to an adult male'.
They also argued that the Home Office unlawfully failed to consider that she travelled to Syria and remained there 'as a victim of child trafficking'.
But giving the decision of the tribunal this morning, Mr Justice Jay said that 'reasonable people will differ' over the circumstances of the case.
He said: 'The commission has fully recognised the considerable force in the submissions advanced on behalf of Ms Begum that the Secretary of State's conclusion, on expert advice, that Ms Begum travelled voluntarily to Syria is as stark as it is unsympathetic.
'Further, there is some merit in the argument that those advising the Secretary of State see this as a black and white issue, when many would say that there are shades of grey.'
He continued: 'If asked to evaluate all the circumstances of Ms Begum's case, reasonable people with knowledge of all the relevant evidence will differ, in particular in relati...