Jihadist Wives Repatriated To The Netherlands Leads To National Outrage
Authorities at the
Netherlands issued arrest warrants for the wives of 6 known Jihadist militants
who fled Syria on January 31. In coordination with the Kurdish authorities, the
Netherlands is looking into how, the women who went to Syria with their eleven
children, can be repatriated.
Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus
(Justice and Security, CDA) told Dutch broadcaster NOS that the arrest warrants
were issued because there is credible reason to believe that the 6 women are
part of a terrorist organization.
However, the Minister clarified that
active repatriation does not apply to other women and their children who left
for Syria.
Grapperhaus stated that the policy of
non-repatriation remains unchanged with the exception of the case involving the
6 Jihadists women.
In a January 8 decision, the court in
Rotterdam demanded that the authorities exhaust all means to retrieve the
captive women out of the Al-Hol camp on the Syrian-Iraqi border. Detailed
instructions were provided as well.
The women and their children must be
brought from northeastern Syria to the border of Iraq and from there they
should be relocated to the Kurdish Autonomous Region. Afterwards, their
repatriation should be arranged in the Dutch consulate located in Erbil, the
capital of the Iraqi-Kurdish region.
Grapperhaus explained the reason for
the procedure:
“We have spoken with the organizations that manage the camps. We have established that if they actually transfer them to a safe area, and then to a consulate of the Netherlands, then we can take them. Mothers will then, naturally, be arrested by the Marechaussee police and the children will be received by Child Protection.”
According to WHO, the population in
camp has increased significantly in three weeks which resulted to lack of
medical supplies, tents and toilets.
Meanwhile, France announced that
French jihadists who are held captive in Syria will be actively repatriated as
the situation “has become too unstable”. The announcement has been strongly
opposed in the country.
In a television talk show appearance,
Pierre-Henri Dumont, a deputy in the French National Assembly for Les
Républicains, boldly stated that he is in favor of solving the problem by
subjecting the jihadists to “targeted assassinations” before they can return to
France.