The case of Shamima Begum stands in contrast to my father’s treatment in 1945 (Shamima Begum: supreme court refuses to hear UK citizenship appeal, 7 August). Like her, my father was about 16 when he went to Germany in early 1939. He went because he had been exposed to pro-fascist propaganda from his mother, together with her circle of friends.
Unlike Begum, he did, albeit briefly, actively support the regime by giving a few radio broadcasts alongside William Joyce. My father’s infatuation with the Third Reich waned after the fall of Paris, but he was stuck and had to live with the consequences of his teenage choice for the rest of the war, which meant being incarcerated by the Gestapo and finally placed in a camp in Italy.
But where the similarity ends is with the response of the British state. He was recognised as British and not stripped of citizenship. After the allies liberated Italy, he was arrested and tried at the Old Bailey. In his final words, Mr Justice Humphreys implied that, given my father’s youth and the influences of others, he should be given a second chance.
I would argue that Begum should have her citizenship restored and, like my father, answer to the British judicial system for her actions. She, like my father, was born and brought up in Britain and, like him, is a product of her cultural environment.
Luisa White
London
The refusal of the supreme court to hear Shamima Begum’s appeal against the removal of her UK citizenship says much about this country and the previous government’s morality and compassion. No matter what we believe or think we know about her or the immoral and sadistic regime which she misguidedly joined, we seem to have forgotten or chosen to ignore that when she departed the UK she was a child of 15. Surely, we can understand that children can and do make childish errors. However, for her catastrophic decision she is being made to pay for the rest of her life, which, unless something is done by this government very soon, may be cut short.
Do the people of the UK not think that this poor, unfortunate girl, along with many others in a similar plight, has suffered enough hardship, learned salutary lessons and been punished sufficiently as a adult, for a childish mistake? This government should take the humane action of repatriating Shamima and her fellow detainees like compassionate European and US governments have done.
Ian Dowdeswell
Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire
So, somehow Shamima Begum is a threat to national security but Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is not?
Owen Stewart
Gatley, Greater Manchester
