UK Citizens Suspected Of Terror Ties Stripped Of British Citizenship

This Monday Feb. 23, 2015 file handout image of a three image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, south England, before catching their flight to Turkey. Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that she wants to come back to London.
This Monday Feb. 23, 2015 file handout image of a three image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, south England, before catching their flight to Turkey. Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that she wants to come back to London. Metropolitan Police via AP / AP Photo
This Monday Feb. 23, 2015 file handout image of a three image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, south England, before catching their flight to Turkey. Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that she wants to come back to London.
This Monday Feb. 23, 2015 file handout image of a three image combo of stills taken from CCTV issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport, south England, before catching their flight to Turkey. Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that she wants to come back to London. Metropolitan Police via AP / AP Photo

UK Citizens Suspected Of Terror Ties Stripped Of British Citizenship

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The UK has in recent years set a precedent for stripping its naturalized and dual citizens of their British citizenship, often deporting them to their countries of origin when the Home Office judges this action to be “conducive to the public good.” The power has been used extensively to strip UK nationality from citizens suspected of involvement with terror groups, even when they do not have criminal convictions. It has also been used more recently against individuals who pose no perceived national security risk; in two separate cases, a British-Indian and a group of British-Pakistani men were stripped of their British citizenships and deported for child sex offenses. Concerns continue that the rule could establish tiers of citizenship, making naturalized citizens’ and even native-born British children of immigrants’ status in the country contingent on their perceived contributions rather than their right to be there. Joining us to talk about the practice and immigrants’ and citizens’ rights in the UK is Nadia O’Mara, advocacy and policy officer at human rights organization Liberty.