Some French women, who went to Syria to marry Islamist fighters, now find themselves in custody in the war-torn nation. Debate has been swirling in the EU nation about the fate of these women
Wives of jihadists
Female French jihadists arrested in Kurdish-held parts of Syria should face justice there so long as they can be guaranteed a fair trial, the French government said recently. Kurds currently hold just under a third of Syrian territory—including the Raqa region, IS’s former “capital”— while the regime holds around a half, following the multi-sided civil war which has raged since 2011
No plans to bring them back
Last week, Emilie Konig, a 33-year-old Muslim convert from Brittany who became a notorious jihadist recruiter, became the latest of a string of European women to plead publicly for repatriation. But French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux indicated there are no plans to bring her home
She frequently appeared in propaganda videos and French intelligence intercepted messages to her contacts at home urging them to attack French institutions or the wives of soldiers. Some 30 French jihadists, both men and women, are currently in the custody of Kurdish and Iraqi forces, according to a source close to the investigation
One-third foreign fighters returned home
Of some 5,000 EU Islamists believed to have gone to fight, around a third have returned home, according to the Soufan Center, a US-based NGO that conducts research on global security. So far, France, Germany and Britain have tackled returnees on a case-by-case basis
The Syrian Kurds’ representative in France told AFP that authorities in their territory were ready to either take the women to court or send them home with their children. No foreign national has yet appeared in court in Kurdish-held areas, the representative said, adding that their forces on the ground have some 1,300 “terrorists” in custody including foreigners