‘Jihadi bride’ arrested at Heathrow with two-year-old son
European authorities fear influx of Isis women and their children
A British-born suspected “jihadi bride” who gave birth in Islamic State-controlled Syrian territory was arrested after returning to the UK with her toddler son earlier this month, it has emerged.
The 27-year-old British woman was released on bail following her arrest at Heathrow Airport under terrorism laws. Her two-year-old son has been taken into care in what The Sunday Times describes as the “first known case of its kind” - but authorities across Europe are reportedly preparing for an inpouring of further Isis brides and their children.
“Female immigrants to the Islamic State have been fleeing the caliphate by the hundreds,” The Washington Post reported in November. “From North Africa to Western Europe, the new arrivals are presenting an unexpected challenge to law enforcement officials, who were bracing for an influx of male returnees but instead have found themselves deciding the fate of scores of women and children.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Times says that more than 100 British women are thought to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join jihadist groups. According to report last May by The Daily Telegraph, citing counterterrorism sources and a former jihadi bride, up to ten British women and their children left the extremists’ so-called caliphate in the first few months of 2017, and a couple had “already made it back to the UK”.
UK social services are drawing up plans to tackle a potential influx of Isis families returning from Syria and Iraq following the collapse of the terrorist group last year. In one case, Aqsa Mahmood, 22, a suspected Isis recruiter from Glasgow, was stripped of her UK citizenship to prevent her return, The Times says. A similiar order was made against a British mother-of-two who left Syria with her two children in 2016: they are now stranded in Turkey.
British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has suggested that British defectors to Isis should be “hunted and killed”, although his comments were met with disapproval from a number of MPs.
Deutsche Welle (DW) says German authorities are also grappling with the best way to deal with jihadi brides following the case of a 16-year-old runaway schoolgirl who defected to Iraq to marry an Isis fighter. She was arrest by Iraqi security forces and faces the death penalty if convicted.
“Under Iraqi law, she could be sentenced to death for being a member of a terrorist organisation,” DW says. If she were repatriated to Germany for trial, she would probably face a sentence of between one and ten years under terrorism laws.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The drive behind Germany's pro-Israel political consensus
Under the Radar Belief that Israel's security is a 'raison d'etre for the German republic' is under growing pressure
By The Week UK Published
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
The Red Army Faction: German fugitive arrested after decades on run
Why Everyone's Talking About Police reward and TV appeal leads to capture of Daniela Klette, now 65
By The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Ex-US diplomat confessed spying for Cuba to undercover agent, FBI says
Speed Read DOJ says former US ambassador Manuel Rocha perpetrated 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published