ISIL wives and children press charges in France over Syria detentions
The wives and children of French ISIL members detained in Syria have filed a legal complaint against authorities in Paris for refusing to repatriate former fighters and their relatives, their lawyers said yesterday.
The fate of about 40 captured extremists and those living under ISIL, including men, women and about 20 children, has been hotly debated in France over recent weeks.
The French government said on January 4 that those detained in Kurdish-held areas of Syria should be left there if they could be guaranteed a fair trial. This covered most cases.
Lawyers representing the wives and children argue that France has a duty to repatriate its citizens.
“These women who went out there are the object of legal proceedings in France,” lawyers Marie Dose, William Bourdon, Martin Pradel and Marc Bailly said in a statement.
“They accept that they must face up to their criminal responsibilities as soon as they arrive on French territory.”
By leaving them there, French authorities are “additionally exposing these mothers and children to obvious risks, notably in terms of their health, in a war zone”.
The families have filed a legal complaint against French authorities for arbitrary detention and abuse of authority, the lawyers said.
They are arguing that Syria’s Kurdish enclaves do not form a legally recognised state and so “these women and children are being held in unauthorised detention”.
The lawyers have not confirmed how many families were involved in the suit. But ISIL propagandist Emilie Konig, 33, a Muslim convert from Brittany who is being held by the Kurds, is not believed to be one of them.
The policeman’s daughter converted after meeting her first husband. Konig left for Syria in 2012, leaving her first two children in France.
In Syria, she joined a new partner who was later killed. She also appeared in ISIL propaganda videos.
French intelligence intercepted messages she sent to contacts in France, urging them to attack French institutions or the wives of soldiers.
Konig features on UN and US blacklists of dangerous militants. She was captured last month and is being held in a Kurdish camp with her three young children.
Her lawyer Bruno Vinay said she had requested to be brought to trial in France, but government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux indicated there were no plans to do so.
A third of about 5,000 EU citizens believed to have gone to fight have returned home, said the Soufan Centre, a non-government organisation that monitors global security. French citizens are among the biggest contingent of overseas fighters who have joined ISIL.
Counter-terrorism authorities estimate about 1,000 travelled to Iraq and Syria.
Counter-terrorism agencies believe that about 1,000 French citizens left to fight for ISIL in Iraq and Syria