Three Brits who went to Syria to join ISIS win appeal against removal of British Citizenship

Three British-Bangladeshis who travelled to Syria to join ISIS have won an appeal against the removal of their British citizenship.

Two women and a man won their case despite their “alignment” with the terror group, meaning they can keep their British passport. 

Known only as C3 and C4, the two women had their British citizenship removed in November 2019 on the grounds of national security.

C7, a man born in Bangladesh who became a British citizen at birth, also had his British citizenship revoked in March 2020 on the basis that he had “aligned” with IS and was a threat to UK national security.

But a tribunal ruled that the move left them stateless, therefore Home Secretary Priti Patel’s removal of their citizenship was wrong.

All three appealed against the removal of their British citizenship at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) – a specialist tribunal that hears challenges to decisions to remove someone’s British citizenship on national security grounds.

The Home Office argued that all three were dual British-Bangladeshi nationals at the time their British citizenship was removed, and so the decision did not render them stateless.

But their lawyers said all three lost their Bangladeshi citizenship when they turned 21, meaning the decision did leave them stateless and was therefore unlawful.

In a ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: “C3, C4 and C7 have persuaded us that, on the dates when the decisions and the orders in their cases were made, they were not nationals of Bangladesh or any other state apart from the UK.

“This means that orders depriving them of their British citizenship would make them stateless.”

The judge added: “The Secretary of State had no power to make orders with that effect.

“For that reason – and that reason alone – the appeals against the decisions to make those orders succeed.”