(Deutsche Welle) Antoine* is used to standing his ground. The trade unionist has defended workers’ rights his whole life. But when his daughter M. suddenly left to join so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq five years ago, he hit rock bottom.
“It was as if my house came tumbling down on top of me,” he told DW. “She had always been a good student and we didn’t see this thing coming at all. I told her — do you know what you’re getting yourself into? And what Salafism actually means?”
Raised in an agnostic family, the 26-year-old had converted to Islam without telling her parents. Revolted to see how, apparently due to his origins, her Franco-Tunisian boyfriend was struggling to find work as an electrician, she left with him to “live their religion freely.”
M. is one of about 1,700 French nationals who joined IS in Iraq and Syria.
