How countries may try to avoid taking back ISIS fighters and their families

Experts worry about a broader phenomenon of de facto statelessness confronting foreign fighters seeking to return home.

By Emily Tamkin February 21 at 12:50 PM

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid said late Wednesday that he would not render any individual “stateless.” But Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old Briton, and other foreign nationals who moved to the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate and now want to return home may ultimately be left in citizenship limbo.

Javid made the statement after the British government announced that Begum, who was 15 when she left for Syria to marry a fighter with the extremist group, also known as ISIS, would be stripped of her British citizenship but could claim Bangladeshi citizenship because of her family’s Bangladeshi heritage. Bangladesh announced, however, that it would not give Begum citizenship.

“I’m not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision, and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision, that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless,” Javid said.

Javid did not specify whether that meant Britain would still go ahead with its decision to strip Begum of her citizenship. “My number one job is to do whatever I can to keep this country safe,” he said.

Begum’s case has garnered international attention, highlighting the legal limbo faced by foreign fighters and their family members as they try to return home to face justice. With the Islamic State on the verge of collapse in Syria, Britain and other countries are almost certainly going to be confronted with more such cases.

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