After the repatriation this Thursday, October 20 of 40 children and 15 women, who were in jihadist prison camps in northeastern Syria, Maître Marie Dosé, lawyer for many of these women, believes on franceinfo that it is is a “good news“. The criminal lawyer at the Paris Bar and representative of the United Families Collective, which brings together relatives and families of women and children detained in Syria, sees this as a “policy change” of France on the question of the repatriation of the families of jihadists. “What is sad is that France took four years, it is the time of a childhood“, she laments.
franceinfo: How do you react to the announcement of these repatriations?
Master Marie Dosé: It’s good news. But I can’t help but think of those who were left there and who see their boyfriends leaving, their friends’ mothers and who must say to themselves ‘why not me?’ What is terrible is that these repatriation operations are being done in dribs and drabs, even if we welcome the fact that the children are finally returning with their mothers and that we are not out of four or five or six children , but on dozens of women and children.
How many children and women still remain in this area?
There are about 160 children and 70 women left. There would be orphans. Some are very small, others, having grown up in the camps for four years, are less so. But these orphans must be a priority. So, I know that some orphans have returned. I’m afraid they haven’t all returned. What we know about these women is that they have been taken to court in France since their departure. So for seven or eight years, the investigating magistrates and the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office have been working on their case every day.
What will happen now for these repatriated women and children?
They will be charged and remanded in custody. Some are already placed in police custody at the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) and others are notified of their international arrest warrant directly to the judge of counter-terrorism instruction. But all of them, in any case, will be indicted for criminal association of a terrorist nature and placed in pre-trial detention. With regard to children, they are cared for by childhood professionals and doctors. First, there is a medical examination that is done in the hospital.
“These children have been malnourished, have suffered psychologically, physically. You must first assess them and assess their psychological and physical trauma.”
Maitre Marie Dosé, representative of the United Families CollectiveFrance Info
Then they are placed in child welfare and go to foster families who are specially trained to welcome them. Sometimes they arrive in very small structures, suitable homes, especially in the case of siblings, for example when there are four, five or six children and you don’t want to separate them because you don’t have to separate them. . This protocol has been in place for years. And little by little, they will meet their grandparents, their aunts, their uncles until a children’s judge decides on the placement of these children in their families, where they will be most likely to grow well. They have been followed for years. The follow-up is very, very long and it is clear that it is very detailed.
In addition to Thursday’s repatriation, France repatriated 35 children and 16 women last July. Until this summer, the policy was to do “case by case”. A month ago, France was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, deeming this policy arbitrary. Do you have the impression that there is a change in policy on this question?
No, it’s not an impression, it’s a fact. But France is cornered after four years of proceedings. She was condemned by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. She was condemned by the European Court, she no longer has the choice to choose the responsibility of humanity. What is distressing is that it took her four years to do it and that four years is the time of a childhood. That’s what I regret. But from the beginning, we knew that these repatriations were inevitable. It’s this wasted time that makes me angry. But obviously, the change in doctrine had been announced at the time by Mr. Laurent Nunez who anticipated a condemnation from the European Court. It is clear that repatriations are now being organized and that it was time for them to be organised.
Do you understand the reluctance of some to see the wives of jihadists return to France?
First of all, I don’t think we should freeze public opinion. I also think that there are many people who understand that children are innocent that the best interest of children is to return with their mothers and leave them there, that would be to populate Daesh again or take the risk of populating new Daesh. These women are only prosecuted in France. They cannot be judged there. They have been in arbitrary detention for four years. They made the worst choice four years ago. This is where they will be and where we will be safe because they are brought to justice here. There, they are indicted, remanded in custody and tried. I hear the reluctance, but above all it is necessary to hold a discourse of reason. It is not because they are far that the danger is far away. It is because they stay far away that the danger is very close to us.