Two ISIS Women Land in Germany after Release from Iraqi Prisons

Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat
Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Two ISIS Women Land in Germany after Release from Iraqi Prisons

Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat
Two protesters at a demonstration in the German city of Offenbach. Asharq Al-Awsat

Two German ISIS women with their three children have arrived in Frankfurt, after being held in a prison in the Kurdish capital Erbil. 

German newspaper Die Welt cited in its Friday issue reliable security circles, that the two ISIS women arrived at the Frankfurt International Airport a day earlier.

German authorities allowed the two women to take their children after undergoing a DNA screening to prove maternity, the newspaper said.

The two women and their young children were transported to Germany on an Iraqi Airways flight, and were accompanied by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police. They are expected to be referred to special guidance committees.

Die Welt sources confirmed that the two women were released and that the Federal Public Prosecution failed to obtain an arrest warrant against them.

However, the Supreme Court authorized federal police to search and interrogate the two women upon arrival in Frankfurt.

Last year, Germany’s Attorney General Peter Frank confirmed that he had zero tolerance policy against German ISIS members who had voluntarily joined the terrorist organizations and then returned from combat zones in Syria and Iraq.

However, the Federal Court rejected their request for detention because there were insufficient evidence of their support for the terrorist organization.

The court distinguishes between male combat duties in ISIS and the duties of others who join but conduct activity limited to childcare and housekeeping. It considers that German penal laws do not apply to such activity. 

Frank challenged the court's decision in January, but federal court judges have not yet ruled on the case until the arrival of the two women to Germany. 

According to Die Welt’s report, there are over 80 Germans who are currently imprisoned in northern Syria and Iraq. Women prisoners have many children, some of whom were born in the war-torn countries and in captivity.

So far 10 children have been repatriated to Germany after undergoing DNA analyses to prove their links to the German so-called “jihadi” women detained abroad.



US Congress Certifies Trump Election Victory for Jan. 20 Inauguration

US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Congress Certifies Trump Election Victory for Jan. 20 Inauguration

US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris attends a joint session of Congress to certify Donald Trump's election, at the US Capitol in Washington, US, January 6, 2025. (Reuters)

The US Congress formally certified Republican President-elect Donald Trump's November election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, clearing the way for him to be sworn in on Jan. 20.

The certification of the election results on Monday in the 50 states and the District of Columbia was accomplished in a brief, formal ceremony during a joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate. It was presided over by Harris, acting in her vice-presidential role as president of the Senate.

The quadrennial ritual stood in sharp contrast to four years ago when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to block the certification of then-President Trump's 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat was the result of widespread fraud, and had warned throughout his 2024 campaign that he harbored similar concerns until his Nov. 5 defeat of Harris.

"Congress certifies our great election victory today - a big moment in history. MAGA!" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday.

The joint session of Congress proceeded even as a winter storm hovered over the nation's capital, dropping about 6 inches (15 cm) of snow and snarling travel.

The final certification backed up preliminary findings that Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris's 226.

REPUBLICANS CONTROL WHITE HOUSE, CONGRESS

Republicans also captured a majority in the US Senate and held a narrow edge in the House in November's election, which will give Trump the party support he needs to implement his planned agenda of tax cuts and a crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally.

Democrats did not try to block certification of Trump's victory on Monday.

"We must renew our commitment to safeguarding American democracy," No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark said in a statement earlier in the day. "As elected leaders, our loyalty must be to the Constitution, first and always. We are here to honor the will of the people and the rule of law."

Security inside and outside the Capitol was heightened in preparation for the certification and was expected to remain in place through Trump's swearing-in.

The Capitol grounds were ringed by metal fences hundreds of yards from the US Capitol, and accessible only via checkpoints guarded by uniformed police officers.

Convoys of black police vehicles were on hand, led by a 10-wheel Baltimore police mobile command center. New York Police Department reinforcements were also patrolling the area.

Inside, extra teams of uniformed US Capitol Police officers were checking IDs at entrance sites including doors and underground tunnels leading to the House and Senate chambers.

Trump has said he plans to pardon some of the more than 1,500 people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, when a mob fought with police, smashing its way in through windows and doors and chanting, "Hang Mike Pence," referring to Trump's then-vice president, in a failed bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden's victory.

In the 2021 melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past police barricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than $2.8 million in damage. Multiple police officers who battled protesters died in the weeks that followed, some by suicide.

As a result of that day's violence, Congress passed legislation late in 2022 bolstering guardrails to ensure that the certification process is administered in a legal manner.

Many of these changes were directly in response to Trump's actions leading up to and including Jan. 6, 2021. For example, the new law asserts that the vice president's role is largely ceremonial.