Among those repatriated is Emilie Koenig, one of the best-known French jihadists
France proceeded today with the repatriation of 35 minors and 16 mothers from displaced persons camps in Syria. Among them is Emilie Koenig, one of the best-known French jihadists, which is rekindling the hopes of many families and non-governmental organizations that the “inhumane” policy of “case-by-case” repatriation will be stopped.
A few hours after the announcement of the reshuffle of the French government, the Foreign Ministry announced that France had repatriated 35 children living in camps in northeastern Syria as well as 16 mothers.
This is the first mass repatriation of minors and their mothers since the collapse, in 2019, of the “caliphate” of the Islamic State, where, among other things, the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015 in France were planned. According to the anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (PNAT), of the 35 minors, 7 are unaccompanied children. As for the 16 women, aged between 22 and 39, four had already agreed in recent months to return their children to France and the remaining 12 returned to the country accompanied by their children. They all have French citizenship, except for two, whose children are French citizens, PNAT clarified.
Among them is Emily Koenig, 37, from Brittany. The woman fled to Syria in 2012 and is believed to have been recruiting members on behalf of IS. Koenig and the other women for whom an arrest warrant has been issued will face criminal charges. The rest will be placed in temporary custody and will be brought before a prosecutor who will decide whether to open an investigation against them.
Officially, no information has been given on the repatriation of these people from the camps controlled by the Syrian Kurds. “The intelligence services came yesterday morning to the Roh camps with lists and photos of the families they wanted to repatriate,” said the uncle of two children who remained there.
Since 2016, 126 minors had returned to France. In 2019, almost seven out of ten French people said they were opposed to the return of the children of jihadists, according to a poll by Odoxa-Dentsu Consulting on behalf of France Info and Le Figaro newspaper.
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