CITIZENSHIP: FROM RIGHT TO PRIVILEGE > the fact that deprivation would leave her and her new-born child (who died shortly afterwards) stranded there indefinitely; > alternative measures such as temporary exclusion orders, which can be used to prevent the return of British citizens to the UK while a package of measures is prepared to control the perceived risks to national security. Sajid Javid’s performance on the issue of Begum’s citizenship fed into the stereotypes of Muslims as uniquely bad and dangerous. It echoed the ‘monstering’ of others such as Abu Hamza and of Abu Qatada, subject to deprivation and deportation respectively: > the 2002 change in the law to make deprivation easier by replacing specific acts with a vague ‘conduct prejudicial’ formula was dubbed the ‘Hamza amendment’ because its express purpose was to strip Abu Hamza of his citizenship for hate speech; > in the run-up to the change, massive media coverage made use of the radical preacher’s prosthetic hand and eye-patch to turn him into a pantomime villain. > later, then home secretary Theresa May and prime minister David Cameron pursued an epic battle to deport the ‘truly dangerous individual’, radical imam Abu Qatada, a Palestinian from Jordan, threatening along the way to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights if that court prevented his deportation; > Abu Qatada finally agreed to be deported in 2013 and was subsequently acquitted of terrorism charges by the Jordanian courts. As with Shamima Begum, intense disapproval or abhorrence for the hate speech mouthed by Abu Hamza in the wake of 9/11 should not blind us to the uniquely dreadful, lifelong punishment that is deprivation of citizenship. Such punishment is justified by the creation by politicians, aided by racist and sensationalist media, of racialised caricatures, ‘folk devils’, who do not deserve justice. This is a very dangerous slippery slope for the rule of law. Perhaps even the Supreme Court was influenced by the ‘uniquely bad and dangerous’ narrative justifying the deprivation of Begum’s citizenship, in its ruling that she could not attend her appeal, as ‘national security’ considerations known only to the Home Office took priority over basic fairness. 6. The context: retreating from equality It is no coincidence that deprivations of citizenship, along with other measures targeting Muslims and migrants, and anti-Muslim hate crimes, have all grown at the same time as 19