Data | The citizenship dilemma over Islamic State women returnees

Of IS affiliates, about 18% of men and only 5% of women returned to their country of departure. Stripping people of their citizenship has become an increasingly popular way of battling terrorism in the post-9/11 world.

In 2015, 15-year-old Shamima Begum and two of her friends left East London to join the Islamic State (IS), a Sunni jihadist group, in Syria. At the time, IS had strongholds in Syria and Iraq and was recruiting members to its “caliphate” through propaganda. Sometimes the group would reportedly show potential recruits videos of gruesome murders and sometimes it would promise them a utopia where Muslims could live peacefully. Begum claims she was promised such a utopia. After joining IS, Begum married an IS fighter. She had three children. (All of them later died). In 2019, during the fall of IS, a pregnant Begum said she wanted to return to the U.K. but stopped short of saying she regretted joining the group.

Her apparent lack of remorse shocked British officials, who revoked her citizenship. Since then, Begum has repeatedly petitioned U.K. courts to return. Late last month, a court said there was a credible case that Begum was trafficked, but she still posed a threat to national security. Stripping people of their citizenship has become an increasingly popular way of battling terrorism in the post-9/11 world.

Chart 1 shows the share of countries with laws allowing citizenship to be revoked over disloyalty to one’s nation in 2013 and 2020. The share of countries that had such a law in place increased from 52% to 79% in the period.

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There are many like Begum. Jack Letts or “Jihadi Jack” was stripped of British citizenship, but is still a citizen of Canada. Areeb Majeed was arrested after returning to India, but remains a citizen.  Map 2 shows the region-wise breakdown of the country of origin of IS affiliates.

Map 3 shows the region-wise breakdown of the number of people associated with IS who returned to their country of departure. Although 41,490 people left their countries to join IS, only 7,366 returned, as per the latest estimates. Europe saw the second-highest number of returnees after North Africa. Debates on how to handle such fighters/affiliates are most intense and complicated in these regions.

Apart from recruiting fighters, IS’s promise of a utopian society attracted women, minors and sometimes even entire families. While men were mostly fighters, women were used as jihadi brides and carried out “caliphate-building” roles. The role of women and children as people who were not foreign terrorist fighters but were still advancing IS’s cause poses a dilemma for officials who examine cases such as Begum’s.