19-year-old who joined 'Daesh' to lose British citizenship

In 2015, British national Shamima Begum fled the UK to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State, otherwise known as Daesh. Four years later, the British government said it will revoke her citizenship.

This came after the 19-year-old expressed her desire to return home. However, UK's home secretary Sajid Javid said he will not hesitate to prevent her return. 

"My message is clear: if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return," he said, according to The Guardian.

"If you do manage to return you should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted."

On Tuesday, the home secretary wrote a letter to Begum's family in which he informed them of the order to revoke their daughter's citizenship. 

"I don't know what to say," Begum told ITV News following the letter.

"I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. It's a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like it's a bit unjust on me and my son."

According to The Washington Post, Begum is currently living in a Syrian refugee camp, where she gave birth to her third child last week. The teen lost one son and one daughter previously, and is not in contact with her husband.  

Javid explained that the revocation of her citizenship should not affect the newborn.

"Children should not suffer, so if a parent loses their British citizenship it does not affect the rights of their child," he said.

According to British law, the government cannot strip someone's citizenship if the move would render the person stateless. Some have since claimed that the 19-year-old holds the Bangladeshi passport. However, these claims have since been refuted by Bangladesh's state minister for foreign affairs. 

"She is a British citizen whose citizenship has been revoked by the UK. There is no question of her being a Bangladeshi citizen as she never visited the country," Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, told Al Jazeera.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Wednesday confirming that Begum is not a citizen of the country. 

 "Shamima Begum is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She is a British citizen by birth and has never applied for dual nationality with Bangladesh."

Several media outlets and social media users described the UK's decision as racist. According to The Independent, there was another British woman who traveled to Daesh-occupied territory but was not prosecuted upon her return home. However, her 10-month-old daughter was taken out of her care.

But, that stance isn't the case among countless others. A number of memes surfaced online claiming that Begum brought this on herself.

"Of course what she did was wrong, but if she was groomed or radicalized, then is she at fault? On the other hand we need to make sure she does not pose a risk to the security of our country. Whatever the wrongs or rights, her child is innocent," an anonymous author at The Independent wrote in an op-ed piece published on Wednesday.

According to NBC News, Britain has revoked the citizenship of more than 100 Daesh fighters with dual nationality.

On Wednesday, Sky News released the results of a poll which asked British nationals whether they were with or against the country's decision to strip the 19-year-old of the citizenship.

Eight in 10 Britons (78 percent) were pro the decision, whereas 15 percent were against it, and 7 percent were unsure of their stance.

Also, 65 percent believe that her citizenship should be revoked even if it means she would be rendered stateless, which is against international law.