Court of Cassation orders new trial for woman convicted of helping family leave for Syria

The Court of Cassation ordered Wednesday, January 13 a new trial for a woman sentenced to prison for having helped her relatives who had left to join the jihadist ranks in Syria, in particular by sending them several thousand euros.

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Anissa T. and her sister, both from Roubaix in the North, were sentenced in 2019 by the Paris Court of Appeal to six and four years in prison, penalties increased compared to the judgment at first instance, of which the prosecution had appealed.

Anissa T., aged about thirty, had appealed to the Supreme Court, while an arrest warrant had been issued against her sister, absent during the deliberation on appeal.

The highest court of the judiciary quashed the appeal decision in the name of the principle of "

", which prohibits punishing twice for the same facts, considering that this had been the case in the decision concerning Anissa T. The case is therefore returned to the Paris Court of Appeal, otherwise composed, for a third trial.

About twenty of the relatives of the two sisters - including all of their seven siblings and their parents - had joined the Islamic State (IS) in Syria during the year 2014, in the wake of a brother described as charismatic and domineering.

The latter is now one of the French sentenced to death in Iraq, after being captured by the forces of the anti-IS coalition.

The two women were tried in particular for “

” and accused of having sent at least 15,000 euros from family allowances to their relatives.

They admitted having sent money to the latter, assuring that they were in "

", but had denied having shared the ideology of the Islamic State group.