Jihadi brides treated too leniently, says UN

WOMEN who return home after joining terrorist groups are at risk of re-radicalisation because they are treated too leniently, a United Nations report warns.

Seen as passive onlookers to terrorism, the popular image of the coerced “jihadi bride” leads authorities to treat them less harshly, according to the report released this week by the United Nation’s Counter-terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).

Sentences handed down to men and women charged with terrorist offences show relative leniency towards females, according to the report’s findings. “Women … tend to receive more limited rehabilitation and reintegration support, thus putting them at potentially greater risk of recidivism and re-radicalisation,” the report warns.

Despite the majority of women linked to terrorist groups not joining front-line fighting, researchers warn they often play a major role in spreading ideology and encouraging attacks.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is known to give women a leading role in recruitment and propaganda, and up to 20 per cent of their Western recruits are female.

Michèle Coninsx, executive director of CTED, told The Daily Telegraph;

“Women play multiple roles in terrorist groups, including as radicalisers or recruiters who help to spread radical ideas and incite others to carry out attacks, often online.”

In 2015, 18 per cent of all people arrested on terror charges were women, which increased to 25 per cent in 2016, according to a recent report from Europol.