Tafida Raqeeb: Parents of ill girl, 5, begin High Court case

The parents of a seriously ill girl have begun a High Court fight to take her to Italy for treatment.

Doctors at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel say there is no hope five-year-old Tafida Raqeeb will recover from a brain injury and it is in her best interests to be allowed to die.

But clinicians at a hospital in Genoa have offered her treatment.

A week-long hearing is being held in front of Mr Justice MacDonald to establish if Tafida can go to Italy.

Lawyers representing Tafida said the girl, who has serious brain damage, was being denied her right to free movement under European Union law.

Vikram Sachdeva QC said: "Tafida and her parents have, in principle, a right to elect to receive medical care in another EU state.

"By refusing her transfer, the trust is acting in breach of that right."

Bosses at Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, want the court to rule that stopping "life-sustaining treatment" is in the youngster's best interests.

Tafida's parents Shelina Begum, 39, and Mohammed Raqeeb, 45 want to move her to the Gaslini children's hospital in Genoa - which they claim is the Italian equivalent of Great Ormond Street children's hospital.

The trial continues and is expected to end later this week.