(AFP) France has repatriated 15 women and 32 children held in a prison camp for suspected jihadists in Syria, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, in the third major return of French citizens from the country.
Rights groups have been pressing for years for France to take back the wives and children of alleged Islamic State group fighters held in the camps, since the jihadist movement was ousted from its self-declared “caliphate” in 2019.
But the government refused a blanket repatriation, saying the return of potentially radicalised IS family members would pose security risks in France, which has seen a wave of jihadist attacks since 2015.
Instead it said individual cases would be examined, leading to the first group repatriation of 16 mothers and 35 children from Syria in July 2022, and a further 55 in October.
