Eighteen months in prison for the half-sister of a French leader of the Islamic State

A sentence of four years in prison, including eighteen months, to be served under an electronic bracelet, was imposed on Thursday June 27 on Khadija A., half-sister of Boubaker El-Hakim, one of the French leaders of the Islamic State (IS) organization. This 43-year-old Tunisian woman was prosecuted for having joined her brother in Syria in 2015 with her four-year-old daughter. The prosecution had requested 5 years in prison, including two years against him.

In announcing her decision, the president of the 16th correctional chamber, Murielle Desheraud, said that the Paris court had taken into account both “the seriousness of the facts” but also of “family life” and “personal journey” of the accused since her arrest in Paris in December 2016. The president welcomed her “occupational integration” and his “strong presence” with his daughter, now 14 years old.

Khadija A., who appeared free, maintained that she had not been to Syria “voluntarily” but that she had only followed her mother (Habiba A., also mother of Boubaker El-Hakim) of whom she was under “the influence”. The court followed the prosecution’s requisitions to “discard” the pain “OBLIGATORY” banning a foreign national from French territory in terrorism cases. The defendant “has lived in France for a long time and his daughter was born and raised in France”argued the prosecutor, heard on this point by the court.

Boubaker El-Hakim, born in Paris in August 1983, was a figure of Islamist jihadism, having spent time with Al-Qaeda before joining IS. Considered one of the highest ranking French officers within the unit responsible for IS external operations, he was killed by an American strike in Raqqa in November 2016.