Spain Imprisons Two Women Repatriated From Syria with Suspected ISIS Links

An ISIS flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
An ISIS flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
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Spain Imprisons Two Women Repatriated From Syria with Suspected ISIS Links

An ISIS flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
An ISIS flag hangs amid electric wires over a street in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, near the port-city of Sidon, southern Lebanon January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Spain's High Court on Wednesday imprisoned two Spanish women who were repatriated earlier this week from detention camps in Syria while prosecutors investigate whether they were part of ISIS.

Spain has committed to repatriating several Spanish women and children who are among thousands of foreigners that have been living in overcrowded detention camps run by Kurdish authorities and international charities after ISIS so-called caliphate ended in 2019.

Judge Santiago Pedraz ordered that Yolanda Martinez and Luna Fernandez should be jailed pending further investigation after considering there was a flight risk as well as an "evident" risk of reoffending.

According to Reuters, both women allegedly participated in activities in favour of ISIS before and after moving to the area of Syria and Iraq with their husbands in 2014, according to the High Court.

The judge ruled that the women could maintain custody of their 13 children, arguing that they could not be indoctrinated from prison.



Death Toll from US Winter Storms Grows to 14

HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
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Death Toll from US Winter Storms Grows to 14

HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
HYDEN, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 17: A flooded road that leads to a neighborhood is seen on February 17, 2025 in Hyden, Kentucky. (Photo by Jon Cherry / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

The death toll from powerful winter storms in the central and eastern United States has risen to at least 14, officials said Monday, after floods, gale-force winds and bitterly cold temperatures swept the region.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Monday of a winter storm system carrying arctic air that would cause "record cold," with wind chill expected to hit as low as -60 degrees Fahrenheit (-51 degrees Celsius) in Montana and North Dakota.

"I've got more tough news. The death toll in Kentucky has now risen to 12," said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear in a social media post on Monday, raising the toll from eight a day earlier.

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey said on Monday his state had also seen at least one death from the weather, AFP reported.

"We have one confirmed fatality at this time," he told a press briefing, warning that further flooding was expected. "There are still several people who are missing."

In addition, one person died in the southern city of Atlanta, Georgia. The victim was killed when an "extremely large" tree fell on his house early Sunday, fire official Scott Powell told local media.

Most of the dead in Kentucky, Beshear said in an earlier news conference, drowned when trapped in their vehicles by fast-rising floodwaters. The victims included a mother and her child.

The governor urged people to stay off roads across the state, where local and federal authorities have declared a state of emergency.

Beshear said more than 1,000 people had been rescued by first responders within 24 hours.

In its Monday advisory, the NWS warned that the cold weather system would impact a vast area, sending temperatures tumbling in the central plains, the eastern seaboard and as far south as the Gulf coast.

"A bitter cold arctic airmass is expected to continue impacting the north-central US while also spreading further south and east over the next few days," the advisory said.

Power to thousands of homes had been restored by Monday, but more than 50,000 customers remained without electricity in the states of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, according to monitoring website poweroutage.us.