'Outrageous!' Nigel Farage blasts ECHR after Strasbourg judges challenge Isis bride's ban from Britain

Ms Begum was "married off" to Yago Riedijk, was stripped of her British citizenship in February 2019 on the grounds of posing a threat to national security, and remains in a Syrian camp.

In a document published by the Strasbourg court earlier this month, it states Ms Begum is challenging the decision under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibition of slavery and forced labour.

Mr Farage, the Reform UK Leader, told The Express: "It’s outrageous that a major decision like this of national interest can be made in the ECHR: it shows why we must leave."

"She must not be allowed back."

The case was lodged in December last year, after she was denied the chance to challenge the removal of her British citizenship at the UK’s Supreme Court in August.

Among four questions posed by judges in Strasbourg to the Home Office, it asked: "Did the Secretary of State have a positive obligation, by virtue of Article 4 of the Convention, to consider whether the applicant had been a victim of trafficking, and whether any duties or obligations to her flowed from that fact, before deciding to deprive her of her citizenship?"

Responding to the move, Birnberg Peirce Solicitors, which is representing Ms Begum, said the court’s communication "presents an unprecedented opportunity" for the UK.

They added it provided the opportunity for Ms Begum to "grapple with the significant considerations raised in her case and ignored, sidestepped or violated up to now by previous UK administrations".

Lawyer Gareth Peirce said: "It is impossible to dispute that a 15-year-old British child was in 2014/15 lured, encouraged and deceived for the purposes of sexual exploitation to leave home and travel to Isil-controlled territory for the known purpose of being given, as a child, to an Isil fighter to propagate children for the Islamic State.

"It is equally impossible not to acknowledge the catalogue of failures to protect a child known for weeks beforehand to be at high risk when a close friend had disappeared to Syria in an identical way and via an identical route."

Back in January, Mr Farage was quizzed on his stance on Ms Begum's potential return after Donald Trump's then-terror chief Seb Gorka said Isis members in Syria should be allowed to return home.

The Reform UK leader said: "It's very difficult for us to think we should take back people, Shamima Begum and others, and instinctively, instinctively, it's not something I want to do.

"Gorka argues that if we and other European countries don't take back these people and put them in prison here, they will get out of prison under the new Syrian regime, leading to a problem that in the end we may all have to fight."

"I think what Gorka has done is started a debate, not one that I wanted to have and not one the British Government wanted to have. But now we're going to have to. And he's got a point. Regrettably, yes."

His comments were pounced upon by Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch, who said: "A Conservative Government led by me will never take back terrorists like Shamima Begum who have been stripped of their citizenship.

"Actions must have consequences or there is no deterrent. Citizenship means committing to a country and wanting its success. It’s not an international travel document for crime tourism."

Reform UK's Zia Yusuf was forced to clarify Mr Farage's comments at the party's South East conference in Surrey.

Speaking to GB News, he said: "If anyone actually cares about truth, they should look at what Nigel actually said which was what's happening in Syria is there has been regime change, and let's be clear about what's happened as a result of that, you have jihadists in senior Government positions."

Mr Yusuf continued: "If you are a British citizen and you are concerned that there are people in Syrian prisons who are security threats to the United Kingdom, where would you rather they were sitting, inside a 'prison' in a now potentially jihadist-controlled Syria or inside a maximum-security prison inside the United Kingdom?"

Speaking on GB News, Shadow Justice Minister Robert Jenrick said Ms Begum "chose to associate with Isis terrorists” and made a “catastrophic misjudgment" by betraying Britain, insisting she should "not set foot on British soil under any circumstances."

Responding to the correspondence from the European court, a Home Office spokesman said any decision made to protect national security will be robustly defended.

A spokesman said: "The Government will always protect the UK and its citizen. That is why Shamima Begum, who posed a national security threat, had her British citizenship revoked and is unable to return to the UK.

"We will robustly defend any decision made to protect our national security."

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