Wife’s return from Islamic State divides Norwegian government

OSLO, Norway — Before the woman left for Syria in 2013, she had grown up on the eastern side of Oslo in a Norwegian Pakistani family, according to a recent profile. In Syria, she ended up living in Islamic State territory, marrying twice in the Caliphate and having two children, officials say.

When she and her children were plucked from a Kurdish-controlled detention camp in Syria and arrived back on Norwegian soil Saturday, she was taken into custody for fear that she was a security risk.

The family was being kept under surveillance and medical observation in an Oslo hospital and Norwegian news outlets reported Monday that the woman would remain in custody for at least four more weeks.

The Norwegian government suggested that the decision to bring back the unidentified woman, now 29, had been a humanitarian one: One of her two children — a boy, 5, and a girl, 3 — was believed to be seriously ill. But the move has prompted a national debate and had threatened to bring down the government.

The decision was met with staunch opposition from the government’s coalition partner, the anti-immigrant and law-andorder Progress Party, and there were suggestions that if the matter was not settled to its liking, it could blow up the coalition that holds up the government.

The party stopped short of doing that Monday, while still registering its discontent. After an emergency meeting Monday, the Progress Party said that it would withdraw from the fourparty governing coalition, but that it would still continue to support the government.

The woman has been charged by Norwegian Security Police with “participation in a terrorist organization” for joining the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group. The charge is punishable by up to six years in prison on conviction.

With the defeat of the Islamic State and the militants’ loss of territory in the Middle East, countries across Europe have had to grapple with the return of those associated with the group.

The woman will plead not guilty to all charges, her lawyer, Nils Christian Nordhus, said on Sunday. He said that she was willing to cooperate with the police and had been questioned.

But he said she had asked not to be present for the hearing Monday, when the condition and the length of her custody will be decided.