A victory for the families of French women and children who are still held in camps in Syria. The European Court of Human Rights has condemned France to reconsider the requests for the repatriation of the families of the jihadists in Syria. Requests that must be re-examined as soon as possible by Paris.
“In execution of its sentence, the Court specifies that it is up to the French government to resume the examination of the applicants’ requests as soon as possible, surrounding it with adequate guarantees against arbitrariness,” indicated the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, its highest body.
“France cannot refuse to let them in”
European justice had been imprisoned by the parents and grandparents of two French women, wives of jihadists, stranded in camps in Syria with their children. These two women had left France in 2014 and 2015 to join Syria, where they gave birth to their children. In April 2019, the Council of State had rejected their requests for repatriation, considering that they did not fall under the jurisdiction of the French judge.
The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Paris for not respecting Protocol No. 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which establishes that “no one may be deprived of the right to enter the territory of the State of which he is a national”. “In other words, the ECHR says ‘these are French citizens and France cannot refuse to let them in’, analysis for BFMTV.com Me Laurence Roques, lawyer and president of the Commission on Freedom and Human Rights at the National Bar Association of the Council.
France has always applied a “case by case” policy with respect to its French citizens detained in Syrian camps since the fall of the Islamic State. During the summer, Paris repatriated 35 minors and 16 mothers who had previously been held in jihadist prison camps in northeastern Syria. Until then, only 35 children had been repatriated to France since March 2019.
Source: BFM TV
