Shamima Begum to find out if she has won Court of Appeal challenge over citizenship

Shamima Begum, who left the UK for Syria when she was just 15, is waiting to hear if she has won her appeal against having her British citizenship taken away.

She was found in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019 and soon after, her citizenship was taken away because it was thought she might be a danger to the country. Last year, Shamima, who is now 24, tried to get this decision changed but didn't succeed.

Her lawyers have now tried again at the Court of Appeal. Three judges will reveal their decision on Friday.

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In October, one of Shamima's lawyers, Samantha Knights KC, told the court that the Government hadn't thought about whether Shamima might have been forced to go to Syria or whether it was their fault she ended up there.

She said: "The appellant's trafficking was a mandatory, relevant consideration in determining whether it was conducive to the public good and proportionate to deprive her of citizenship, but it was not considered by the Home Office.

"As a consequence, the deprivation decision was unlawful." But Sir James Eadie KC, who was speaking for the department, said deciding if someone is a victim of trafficking and deciding if they should lose their citizenship are two very different things.

He went on to say: "The focus in the trafficking regime is on the protection of the individual and there's really no countervailing public interest at that point." But here the regime is different, the regime in operation is the deprivation regime and the rationale is entirely different, it is the protection of the public at large."

The lawyer later said the "key feature" of Ms Begum's case was national security. Sir James continued in written