Spain will repatriate women and children held in jihadist prison camps in northeastern Syria, a Spanish government source said on Monday.
Three Spaniards, the wives and two widows of Islamic State (IS) jihadists, and the jihadists’ thirteen children will be repatriated to Spain by the end of the year, according to a source. Two of these women are in a jihadist prison camp near the border between Syria and Turkey, and the third is in a camp near the border with Iraq.
A fourth woman, of Moroccan nationality but the widow of a Spanish jihadist, could also be affected by this repatriation with her three children, but they escaped in 2020 from the camp near the Iraqi border where they were held. Authorities have since lost track of them.
According to a government source, the three women who will be returned will appear in Spanish courts upon arrival. Accused of collaborating with a terrorist organization, they face five years in prison.
According to the daily newspaper El Pais, who disclosed this information, they claim that they did not participate in jihadist activities and went to areas controlled by jihadist groups in the Iraqi-Syrian zone before the defeat of ISIS in 2019, only because their husbands cheated. . The Spanish government has so far refused to repatriate them. The announcement of this repatriation comes after France executed 15 women and 40 children of jihadists last month.
Faced with public hostility, France has long carried out measured repatriations on a case-by-case basis. But on September 14, the European Court of Human Rights, held by the parents of two of the women, condemned France for not properly investigating these requests.
Source: Le Figaro
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