They had joined the Syrian territories controlled by Daesh, after having embraced the path of jihad and denied France. Between the ages of 19 and 41, these women were captured by Kurdish forces in the final battles that led to the collapse of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group. But Yamna, Charlotte, Sarah, Nathalie, Hayat and even Selma are nowhere to be found. These prisoners took advantage of the instability in Syrian Kurdistan and the procrastination of the international community over their fate to make themselves beautiful.
According to our information, around twenty French jihadists have escaped from the Kurdish prisons and camps in north-eastern Syria since October 2019. It was on this date that the first Turkish offensive was launched near the Aïn Issa camp, pushing the Kurds to lower their vigilance, what is more in a context of disengagement of the American troops.
The escapes were then repeated in the detention centers of Al-Hol or Al-Roj, where thousands of jihadists of all nationalities are piled up in deplorable sanitary conditions. "These women use cunning or benefit from the complicity of smugglers paid up to 10,000 euros," notes a source in the French intelligence services. Daesh is now focusing its propaganda on calls to escape its prisoners. Funding circuits for these escapes have been identified as far as France and dismantled. "
Hayat Boumeddienne ran away with the help of internal accomplices
At least 10 of the fugitives have since been intercepted, half deported to France from Turkey. But as of May 8, 13 of them were still in the wild, according to information from the Analysis of Terrorism Center (CAT) confirmed by security sources. Women from the Paris region (Paris, Argenteuil, Bondy, Nanterre…), from the North, Brittany or the Côte d'Azur, and whose journeys tell the story of French jihad. All are subject to arrest or search warrants issued by French justice.
The most emblematic is Hayat Boumeddiene, widow of the Hyper Cacher terrorist Amedy Coulibaly. While she was announced as dead during the clashes in Baghouz, a jihadist who returned to France certified to justice that she had met her under a false identity in the camp of Al-Hol in the fall, as well as revealed France 2. The 31-year-old Parisian, who had gained Syria, would have fled with the help of internal accomplices. This is corroborated by French information. Hayat Boumeddiene is still sought after for his supposed participation in the preparations for the January 2015 attacks.
VIDEO. Attacks in 2015: Hayat Boumeddiene is still alive
Another well-known name: Selma Tahar Aouidate, 27, from a family from Roubaix (North) whose… 23 members had joined the ranks of Daesh in 2014. It was her brother Fodil Tahar Aouidate known as “Abou Mariam”, the one of the seven jihadists sentenced to death in Iraq, who is said to have radicalized almost all of his large siblings and his in-laws. A clan now decimated. Only two Aouidate sisters had remained in France and have since been sentenced for sending money from social benefits to their relatives in the area.
"Some would not hesitate to wear iron" in France
We also find among the escapees French women who played an active role in IS propaganda. Like Sarah Derelle, a 26-year-old convert, who had called jihadist women in the Dar El Islam magazine to accept the death of their husbands on the front lines. And paid tribute to his, a French fighter who blew himself up in a truck loaded with TNT. “My sisters, […] love your husbands for Allah and let them go if they wish to return to their Lord. We must encourage them, whether in combat or for martyrdom, to show them that we are strong women, ”wrote this young woman born in Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis) and in Syria for seven years.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Like Sarah Derelle, several of these women were married to jihadists with important roles, like Charlotte Bon. This 28-year-old Aixoise woman had pretended to go skiing in January 2015 to go to the land of IS and marry "Abou Loqman", alias Ilies Chabiba, reputedly "charismatic" figure in the jihadist sector of Champigny-sur-Marne (Val de Marne).
These escapes raise both security and humanitarian issues. A part of these fugitives, considered dangerous, could be tempted to return clandestinely to France by using the migratory routes and with the complicity of networks of smugglers. "Some have a disturbing profile and would not hesitate to carry iron on the territory, warns an anti-terrorist official. Experience has shown that women can take action. Their return to Europe with malicious ideas is a risk which is taken into account even if these escapes remain pearled for the moment and do not constitute a massive phenomenon. "
Others would like to continue living under the administration of Daesh. According to our information, six fugitives were spotted in the last pockets of ISIS in north-western Syria. Another in Turkey.
"A child quickly forgets"
Some French women, finally, would like to return to the national territory at all costs to be judged there, even if the detention is almost inevitable on their arrival. "They no longer support arbitrary confinement in the Kurdish camps and want to surrender to the Turkish authorities to be deported to France," observed Me Nabil Boudi, lawyer for several escaped jihadists. Some have realized that they do not want their children to grow up in these camps with degraded health conditions. A child quickly forgets, but the more we leave him in these camps, the more difficult it will be to get him out of the extremist religious spiral. "
Faced with criticism of the management of their detention centers, the Kurds are demanding more help from Western countries and the speedy holding of trials on the spot. "It is true that these camps are not infrastructures intended for a large number of detainees but there is no faulty situation, assures Khaled Issa, representative in France of Syrian Kurdistan. We have defeated Daesh on the battlefield, we are able to keep their terrorists. But we now hope that our allies provide us with more logistical support and complete the work done together by bringing these terrorists to justice. "
Despite these escapes, France remains on its doctrine: not to repatriate the French jihadists and let the local authorities judge them.
These women escaped and arrested
Sarah Bentahar, 34, detained by soldiers from Bashar el-Assad
Audrey Mouton, 34, detained by soldiers from Bashar el-Assad
Sonia Mejri, 31, expelled to France
Amandine Le Coz, 29, expelled to France
Tooba Gondal, 25, expelled to France
Sarah Ali Mehenni, 23, expelled to France
Nawel Hassani, 24, expelled to France
Emelyne Godart, 25, detained in Turkey
Sarah Talib, 24, detained in Turkey
Linda Belhamiti, 27, captured
