BRUSSELS: A Belgian judge has ordered the government to repatriate six children of Daesh militants and their mothers who have been detained in a camp in Kurdish-controlled Syria, the national news agency Belga said on Wednesday.
Tatiana Wielandt, 26, and Bouchra Abouallal, 25, both Belgian citizens, and their children have been held in the Al-Hol camp in Syria since the defeat of Daesh in nearly all territory it once held in Syria and Iraq.
Belga quoted the court ruling as ordering the Brussels government to take all necessary and possible measures to ensure the six children and their mothers can return to Belgium.
It must do so within 40 days after being notified of the decision or pay a daily penalty of 5,000 euros for each child, up to a maximum 1 million euros, newspaper De Tijd said. The Belgian government can appeal the ruling.
No comment was available from the court on Wednesday due to a public holiday. A lawyer for the two women was not immediately available for comment.
A spokesman for the foreign ministry said it would “analyze the situation together” with the justice and interior ministries.
Hundreds of European citizens, many of them babies, are being kept by US-backed Kurdish militias in three camps since Daesh was ousted last year from almost all the large swathes of territory it seized in 2014-15, according to Kurdish sources.
European nations have been reluctant to take them back, regarding children of extremists both as victims and threats — difficult to reintegrate into schools and homes.
European diplomats say they cannot act in a region where Kurdish control is not internationally recognized. Moreover, there is little popular sympathy for militants’ families after a spate of deadly Daesh attacks across western Europe.
The Kurds say it is not their job to prosecute or hold them indefinitely, leaving the women and children in legal limbo.
However, mounting concern over the apparent abandonment of hundreds of children with a claim to EU citizenship — most of them under six — is pushing governments to quietly explore how to tackle the complexities of bringing them back.
Belgian judge orders repatriation of 6 children of Daesh militants
Belgian judge orders repatriation of 6 children of Daesh militants
- Hundreds of European citizens, many of them babies, are being kept by US-backed Kurdish militias in three camps since Daesh was ousted last year from almost all the large swathes of territory it seized in 2014-15
- European nations have been reluctant to take them back, regarding children of extremists both as victims and threats
Greta Thunberg released from custody after arrest at UK pro-Palestinian protest
- UK-based campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said Thunberg was earlier arrested under the Terrorism Act
- City of London Police said Thunberg had been bailed until March
LONDON: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was released from custody after being arrested on Tuesday in London at a pro-Palestinian protest, police said.
UK-based campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said Thunberg was earlier arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding a sign that said “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.” The British government has proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
City of London Police said Thunberg had been bailed until March.
Police said earlier two other people had been arrested for throwing red paint at a building. A spokesperson said 22-year-old woman later attended the scene and was arrested for displaying a placard in support of a proscribed organization.
Prisoners for Palestine, which supports some detained activists who have gone on hunger strike, said the building had been targeted because it was used by an insurance firm which they said provided services to the British arm of Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.
The insurance company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thunberg, 22, became prominent after staging weekly climate protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.
Last year, she was cleared of a public order offense in Britain as a judge ruled police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London the year before.
She was detained along with 478 people and expelled by Israel in October after joining an activist convoy of vessels, the Global Sumud Flotilla, that attempted to reach Gaza with aid supplies. Israel has consistently denied genocide allegations.
