The French State Council rejects appeals to allow jihadist families to return home

The French State Council rejected requests from families of people who had visited Syria to join ISIS and allow their relatives to return home. France said there would be no community repatriation from Syria and that the decision to allow the return of children and relatives of jihadist fighters would be made on a case-by-case basis.

The State Council, which acts as legal adviser to the French government and the main arbiter of administrative affairs, ruled Tuesday on four cases, three of which involve French women linked to the Islamic State and currently detained in a camp with their eight children. in Syria, and another filed by an uncle who is trying to repatriate two young children from another Syrian camp under Kurdish control.

After reviewing the applications on appeal, the Board stated that it had no jurisdiction to rule. According to him, the return of women and children to France would require "negotiations with foreign authorities or intervention on foreign soil", which was beyond his remit.

Hundreds of children
According to government figures, nearly 1,700 French nationals reportedly went to Iraq and Syria to fight with ISIS jihadists between 2014 and 2018. About 300 were reported to have died in combat.

Hundreds of French and foreign fighters and their families are currently being held in camps by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which led the final campaign against the Islamic State in Syria. According to the United Nations Children's Agency UNICEF, about 3,000 foreign children from 43 countries are being held in the only Al-Hol camp in Syria, which has welcomed most people fleeing the defeat and the collapse of the Islamic State.

Kurdish officials warned that they did not have the resources to detain all captured fighters indefinitely.

But repatriation is politically difficult, and France has hesitated to allow any return in mbad. Earlier this month, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that "community repatriation" would not be considered and that each situation would be studied individually.

Last month, the authorities brought home for the first time five children orphaned by French jihadists from camps in northeastern Syria.