VIENNA: An Austrian court on Wednesday convicted a woman who was repatriated from a Syrian detention camp for having been part of the Daesh group, handing her a two-year suspended jail sentence.
Since Daesh was ousted from its self-declared “caliphate” in 2019, the repatriation of family members of fighters who were either captured or killed has been a thorny issue for European countries.
Maria G., now 28, was brought back from Syria with her two sons in March and has remained free since her return, but was facing charges of being part of a terrorist group and a criminal organization.
At her trial on Wednesday in a court in the city of Salzburg, Maria G. pleaded guilty to both charges and “fully confessed,” court spokeswoman Christina Bayrhammer told AFP.
Prosecutors said they found no evidence of other crimes committed by Maria G. beyond her joining Daesh.
The court handed her a “suspended jail sentence of 24 months,” which she accepted, describing it as “another chance in life,” Bayrhammer said.
The court ruled that she will have to continue undergoing psychological counselling and a de-radicalization program.
The verdict is final, as both the prosecution and the defense waived their right to appeal.
Maria G. had left Austria as a teenager in 2014 to join Daesh in Syria, where she married a now-deceased Daesh fighter and gave birth to two children.
From 2020, she and her sons had been held in the Kurdish-run Roj detention camp for suspected militants.
They were brought back to Austria in March alongside another woman, Evelyn T., who was given a two-year suspended jail sentence in April.
In 2024, a Vienna court had ordered that Maria G. and her sons be repatriated, stressing that it was “in the children’s greater interest.”
Austria’s foreign ministry had previously rejected her request to be repatriated.
The EU member previously repatriated several children.
Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands are among other countries that have repatriated relatives of militant fighters.
Many of the women returned have been charged with terrorism crimes and imprisoned.
Austria sentences woman for Daesh membership after repatriation from Syria
https://arab.news/meh35
Austria sentences woman for Daesh membership after repatriation from Syria
- Maria G., now 28, was brought back from Syria with her two sons in March and has remained free since her return
- The court ruled that she will have to continue undergoing psychological counselling and a de-radicalization program
Minister walks out of film festival after accusations of German role in Gaza ‘genocide’
- Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib said the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel”
BERLIN: A German minister walked out of the awards ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival after a prize-winning director accused Germany of complicity in the “genocide” committed by Israel in Gaza.
Social Democratic Environment Minister Carsten Schneider left the ceremony on Saturday evening because of “unacceptable” remarks, his ministry said.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, who picked up a prize for Best First Feature Award with his “Chronicles from the Siege,” said in his speech that the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this truth.”
Schneider was the only member of the German government attending the ceremony though he was not representing it, his ministry told AFP.
The Ministry of Culture, contacted by AFP to find out the reason for the absence of its minister Wolfram Weimer, did not respond immediately.
A leading member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party, Alexander Hoffmann, denounced what he said were “repugnant scenes” of “antisemitic” during the ceremony.
“The accusations of genocide, the antisemitic outbursts, and the threats against Germany at the Berlinale are absolutely unacceptable,” Hoffmann, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian party allied with Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, told the Bundestag.
The CDU mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner told newspaper Bild that “The open display of hatred toward Israel is in direct contradiction with what this festival represents.”
The backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East led to a tense 76th edition of the festival.
More than 80 film professionals criticized the Berlinale’s “silence” on the war in Gaza in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists “who reject the genocide” they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after jury president Wim Wenders said cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza.
